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TForce | road drivers are not to placard trailers

Never put a placard on the front corner of a trailer. The placard must be on the front flat part of the trailer. I used to see this often (when the trailers were placarded) Its illegal to have placards on the corners of the trailer.
 
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I will clean this image up later tonight.
 
it looks like the supervisors should be placarding trailers .........my terminal has a bad habit of hiring morons you cant trust these people to put on the placards...in the winter you need spray glue and when its raining...they will just slap it on......and hope for the best.
 
I don't see a problem with a supervisor delegating that job to a dockworker as they are the ones that loaded the Haz-Mat in the first place.

I see a problem when the dockworker purposely passes the placarding buck to the driver.
 
Dockworker said:
I don't see a problem with a supervisor delegating that job to a dockworker as they are the ones that loaded the Haz-Mat in the first place.

I see a problem when the dockworker purposely passes the placarding buck to the driver.
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according to the safety commitee the dockworkers are not supposed to be outside unless forklift is needed.....per UPS
 
dockworkers are not responsible for the finalization of the trailer.......closing out......sealing these are all things a supervisor should be doing ......but over the years they have gotten lazy to the point that the dockworkers have to do all of it......the supervisor by definition is responsible for signing off on the load.........i assure you they dont even look at them or verify the seal......that is one of the underlying reasons we have so many claims by damage and theft.
 
a dockworkers only job should be to load and unload trailers ......not close .......not seal......not placard....those are all a supervisors responsibility......and years ago thats how it was but over time the supervision has deteriated to an unbelievable level.
 
I know I'm gonna catch alot of crap for this but, I don't think it should be the dockworkers job to make sure the trailer is either placarded or even placarded right, it should be the driver.

When your out on the road, and something happens, it's your a$$ out on the line, not someone else's.
I can see it now, Jon Q. Driver gets pulled over or in an accident, and the trailer is placarded wrong, gets a ticket and ultimatley gets written up.
His response? "Well the dockworker placarded it, not me, why should I get in trouble?" Manager: "But it's your responsibility to make sure it's done right". Driver: "But if the dock worker did it right the first time, this would've never been a problem."

I do think however, the dockworker or dispatch should fill out that orange card letting us know that there is hazmat on the trailer, cuz sometimes you get busy and not look at all your bills to see whats on there.
One time, I had hazmat on and I didn't know it till I got to my first or second stop, good thing it wasn't very much and didn't need to be placarded. :duh:
Now I check all my bills.....
 
loopy105 said:
I know I'm gonna catch alot of crap for this but, I don't think it should be the dockworkers job to make sure the trailer is either placarded or even placarded right, it should be the driver.

When your out on the road, and something happens, it's your a$$ out on the line, not someone else's.
I can see it now, Jon Q. Driver gets pulled over or in an accident, and the trailer is placarded wrong, gets a ticket and ultimatley gets written up.
His response? "Well the dockworker placarded it, not me, why should I get in trouble?" Manager: "But it's your responsibility to make sure it's done right". Driver: "But if the dock worker did it right the first time, this would've never been a problem."

I do think however, the dockworker or dispatch should fill out that orange card letting us know that there is hazmat on the trailer, cuz sometimes you get busy and not look at all your bills to see whats on there.
One time, I had hazmat on and I didn't know it till I got to my first or second stop, good thing it wasn't very much and didn't need to be placarded. :duh:
Now I check all my bills.....
Click to expand...

Know matter what the rules are, In the end it has always been the drivers responsibility to know what he has on board for hazmat and where on board it is located and that he has the proper paper work and placarding. As far as where on board the hazmat is located, This is another problem I have fought against time and time again. The dock manifest has a diagram where the dock worker is supposed to show where on the trailer (approx) the hazmat has been placed. This is not being done at most terminals.
 
BusterNite said:
Know matter what the rules are, In the end it has always been the drivers responsibility to know what he has on board for hazmat and where on board it is located and that he has the proper paper work and placarding. As far as where on board the hazmat is located, This is another problem I have fought against time and time again. The dock manifest has a diagram where the dock worker is supposed to show where on the trailer (approx) the hazmat has been placed. This is not being done at most terminals.
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you are right they should at least draw it on the manifest and to be fair we are instructed to.
 
loopy105 said:
I know I'm gonna catch alot of crap for this but, I don't think it should be the dockworkers job to make sure the trailer is either placarded or even placarded right, it should be the driver.

When your out on the road, and something happens, it's your a$$ out on the line, not someone else's.
I can see it now, Jon Q. Driver gets pulled over or in an accident, and the trailer is placarded wrong, gets a ticket and ultimatley gets written up.
His response? "Well the dockworker placarded it, not me, why should I get in trouble?" Manager: "But it's your responsibility to make sure it's done right". Driver: "But if the dock worker did it right the first time, this would've never been a problem."

I do think however, the dockworker or dispatch should fill out that orange card letting us know that there is hazmat on the trailer, cuz sometimes you get busy and not look at all your bills to see whats on there.
One time, I had hazmat on and I didn't know it till I got to my first or second stop, good thing it wasn't very much and didn't need to be placarded. :duh:
Now I check all my bills.....
Click to expand...

As a dockworker yuo need to know how to handle, identify and load hazmat and most mportant how to document it on the manifest, dockworkers are the only ones who actually get to see the freight.
 
I know of more than 1 driver that stopped by their neighborhood fire department on the way home from work to complain that it wasn't getting done.:whistle:
 
loopy105 said:
I know I'm gonna catch alot of crap for this but, I don't think it should be the dockworkers job to make sure the trailer is either placarded or even placarded right, it should be the driver.

When your out on the road, and something happens, it's your a$$ out on the line, not someone else's.
I can see it now, Jon Q. Driver gets pulled over or in an accident, and the trailer is placarded wrong, gets a ticket and ultimatley gets written up.
His response? "Well the dockworker placarded it, not me, why should I get in trouble?" Manager: "But it's your responsibility to make sure it's done right". Driver: "But if the dock worker did it right the first time, this would've never been a problem."

I do think however, the dockworker or dispatch should fill out that orange card letting us know that there is hazmat on the trailer, cuz sometimes you get busy and not look at all your bills to see whats on there.
One time, I had hazmat on and I didn't know it till I got to my first or second stop, good thing it wasn't very much and didn't need to be placarded. :duh:
Now I check all my bills.....
Click to expand...

Every one is entitled to their opinions no slack coming your way on this.

I always thought the chain of command in triple checking Placarding was this:
  • Dockworker: who first loads/unloads the Haz-mat. (flips the placards)
  • Supervisor: who closes the load and double checks if Haz-Mat placards are needed or have been flipped.
  • Driver: who is the last line of defense prior to taking the load out in public ensures everything is good to go.


Either way, I will always check my DR's and do my part at being the last line of defense in pulling the load.
 
A few weeks ago a driver brought a rail in from the San Bernadino rail yard into FON and it was on fire! I can assure you, if it was parked next to any trailers with hazmat on them, thay had no plaqards!
 
Goes back to my last statement, how does a dockworker know what placard is required? He's never been trained in this. Pull any dockworker at any terminal and ask him how your trailer should be placard next time you have hazmat on it. His current hazmat training has nothing to do with placards.
If its his reponsibilty he should be taking(and have to pass) the same DOT hazmat test as the drivers.
Common sense, whoever is responsible to do it must be trained/certified on how to do it.
 
tigerwitha88 said:
Goes back to my last statement, how does a dockworker know what placard is required? He's never been trained in this. Pull any dockworker at any terminal and ask him how your trailer should be placard next time you have hazmat on it. His current hazmat training has nothing to do with placards.
If its his reponsibilty he should be taking(and have to pass) the same DOT hazmat test as the drivers.
Common sense, whoever is responsible to do it must be trained/certified on how to do it.
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and if you train him on this make sure your giving him a living wage i hardly think 10.00 an hour is a living wage.
 
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