A man (not OD) was killed today crushed between two trailers and another was killed last week about the same way. I've seen units roll off and bang the driver while he was doing his walk around.I know of a driver parked in the yard filling out his logs when a switcher plowed into him full bore,I've seen drivers slip and fall getting in the tractor and coming out,I've watched jiffs (dollies) crossing the yard come loose because they were not latched.All these things happen at each and every freight line sooner or later.It just seems like people relax a little when they get on a terminal's yard and are not as safe.You can move the loads 600 miles every time with no problems but if you get on the yard and clip the t/m's car you will have no friends.Be careful.
ODFL | Yard Safety
- Thread starter JIM BOB
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- 310
Earlier in my career I worked in the safety department(it was a one man dep't) for a small regional carrier(6 terminals)here in the midwest.Much of our line-haul was operated with LCV combos like twin 45' with tandem dollies and the unique to Kansas "turnpike triples"(a van hooked to a set of pups)Kansas has a 120'limit on LCV's.SOP at this company local and dock guys helped the line guys hook-up,and as a result we had a terrible injury and yard accident problem,we had injuries like broken arms,fingers,toes,feet and ribs,and accidents like dumped trailers,bent landing gears,in one case we had a new tractor cab get knocked off its mounts when a trailer jumped its fifth wheel and slam into the cab.It was finally decided to have the drivers hook and un-hook their own sets,at first it wasn't popular with the drivers or the city/dock guys(they lost an hour of OT)but the yard injury/accident rate quickly fell to almost zero.The drivers developed set routines for hooking/un-hooking and as long as they were'nt interupted you seldom saw any kind of accident,To this day if you approach me while I'm working in the yard I'll send you away,I don't want or need your help,thats how things get broken.It may not be a perfect system,but it works for me!