Feeder driver fired for refusing unsafe trailer?

[feeder53]

It is a very delicate balance when you pull the safety card. It is true that if you had an accident, it would be an issue. Get a statement from a mechanic......do the best you can.....

 

[tieguy]

I hope he has a nice savings account, he should enjoy his nice paid vacation at company expense.

I really do not get management...what are they trying to prove?

probably trying to prove that the vehicle is safe to drive when a mechanic says it is.

Sounds like the real issue here is why did one mechanic say it was safe if it was not.

 

[tieguy]

One mechanic gave the OK for service call along with a supervisor. The driver had a 2nd mechanic (trailer mech) look at the brakes, after he was put on a 72, and he said it was unsafe for the road. They fixed the brakes on the spot and the driver hasnt heared anything about his 72(go figure). Does a non trailer mechanic have a right to say if a trailer is road safe?

In this case a mechanic is a mechanic. All recieve the same traning on brakes. All should be able to assess brakes and determine they are safe or unsafe.

What would have happened to the driver if the trailer mechanic didnt look at when he brought it there the second time? Why does UPS take things to levels where they dont have to go? I cant wait and see what transpires out of this mess.

A management person is not a certified mechanic.
a driver is not a certified mechanic.
the management person relies on the mechanics professional assessment of the equipment.
If the mechanic says the equipment is good then the driver does not have the mechanical expertise to dispute the point.
The question is not why UPS took things to this level but why the first mechanic assessed the equipment was safe.

Don't turn this into another UPS boogey man story. The dispatcher/management person did what he did based on the mechanics assessment of the equipment.

 

[over9five]

How on earth would the driver know there were cracks in the break pads? Wouldn't you have to take the tire off to be able to see that? Just seems kinda odd to me.quote]

Part of our pre-trip is to check the brake shoes. Take a look under a trailer some time. You can see the right ones (side view, like thickness) from the left side and vice versa.

 

[local804]

Spoke to the feeder driver in the AM at my building. He said he was taken off the 72 but wouldnt talk to much about anything else.

Tie,
We wouldnt try to make any story a UPS boogey man story, but sometime you have to wonder.

 

[raceanoncr]

the management person relies on the mechanics professional assessment of the equipment.
If the mechanic says the equipment is good then the driver does not have the mechanical expertise to dispute the point.
.

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. In the past, we've had some "marginal" mechanics. Oh, yes, they're all trained the same but not all have the same attitude (same with drivers, I admit).

I and others here have disputed many points that were deemed safe by our "mechanics" and were pushed to get on the road by management. We've had rusty lugs that the mechanic refused to tighten and said they were alright. We got another mech that tightened and had the same fall off in his hand. We've had flat-spotted tires that were passed by mechanics and changed by another mechanic in the same hub. We've had emergency hoses that were bulging only to be taped up by the mechanic and changed by another.

True, most of us drivers do NOT have the mechanical expertise to change or replace most of this equipment, BUT, we're the ones that have to drive it and if WE don't feel safe driving it, WE ain't gonna drive it!

These other slackers that just wait for a BOP to happen at the last minute are gonna have to live with their actions. I, for one, do NOT want a break-down, EVER! So, I'm only gonna get fixed what needs fixin and refuse to drive what ain't gonna get safely fixed! And I know the DOT will back me up on anything that I need fixed.

 

[local804]

Didnt UPS just pay $254,000 to a mechanic that was fired because he said some trailers were unsafe and UPS said they were?
Imo
Work as instruced and grieve the following day unless it involves safety.
People>Packages

 

[mattwtrs]

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. In the past, we've had some "marginal" mechanics. Oh, yes, they're all trained the same but not all have the same attitude (same with drivers, I admit).

I and others here have disputed many points that were deemed safe by our "mechanics" and were pushed to get on the road by management. We've had rusty lugs that the mechanic refused to tighten and said they were alright. We got another mech that tightened and had the same fall off in his hand. We've had flat-spotted tires that were passed by mechanics and changed by another mechanic in the same hub. We've had emergency hoses that were bulging only to be taped up by the mechanic and changed by another.

True, most of us drivers do NOT have the mechanical expertise to change or replace most of this equipment, BUT, we're the ones that have to drive it and if WE don't feel safe driving it, WE ain't gonna drive it!

Right after we started hauling doubles in Pa. I was turning around and while I was on lunch my dolly disappeared. There was only 1 dolly that wasn't red tagged or hooked up to someone else's tractor so I pretripped it and the gap between the brake shoe pads & brake drum was quite large so I took it to the trailer shop. I had received some extra pointers in Ohio by a fellow driver who hauled triples. He told me that the gap shouldn't be any more than the thickness of the paper time card. One trailer mechanic said he never heard a driver could check the brake adjustment. The shop supervisor walked in and confirmed my Ohio friends pointer. All the mechanics on duty were trained while I waited. Why weren't they trained before that??

 

[tieguy]

Spoke to the feeder driver in the AM at my building. He said he was taken off the 72 but wouldnt talk to much about anything else.

Tie,
We wouldnt try to make any story a UPS boogey man story, but sometime you have to wonder.

understood.

And I don't endorse firing a driver who thinks his equipment is unsafe. I don't know how the incident was handled but hopefully there was more dialogue going here then move it or lose it.

This is one of those type of incidents a management person should thoroughly follow through on. It tends to be bad marketing for management / employee relations when we fire someone refusing to move equipment they feel is unsafe.

This thread demonstrates that point...

 

[tieguy]

Right after we started hauling doubles in Pa. I was turning around and while I was on lunch my dolly disappeared. There was only 1 dolly that wasn't red tagged or hooked up to someone else's tractor so I pretripped it and the gap between the brake shoe pads & brake drum was quite large so I took it to the trailer shop. I had received some extra pointers in Ohio by a fellow driver who hauled triples. He told me that the gap shouldn't be any more than the thickness of the paper time card. One trailer mechanic said he never heard a driver could check the brake adjustment. The shop supervisor walked in and confirmed my Ohio friends pointer. All the mechanics on duty were trained while I waited. Why weren't they trained before that??

slack adjusters?
I believe it generally falls under the trailer shops responsibility. One of many items checked on the pmi.

 

[mattwtrs]

slack adjusters?
I believe it generally falls under the trailer shops responsibility. One of many items checked on the pmi.

Yes, slack adjusters are what they adjust to get the proper brake action. I remember when UPS went to the automatic(self adjusting) adjusters. All you had to do was back up and apply the brakes with force a few times and the brakes were readjusted without having to use the 9/16 inch wrench and hammer. Dollys don't back to well so that used to be a problem.

 

[tieguy]

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. In the past, we've had some "marginal" mechanics. Oh, yes, they're all trained the same but not all have the same attitude (same with drivers, I admit).

I and others here have disputed many points that were deemed safe by our "mechanics" and were pushed to get on the road by management. We've had rusty lugs that the mechanic refused to tighten and said they were alright. We got another mech that tightened and had the same fall off in his hand. We've had flat-spotted tires that were passed by mechanics and changed by another mechanic in the same hub. We've had emergency hoses that were bulging only to be taped up by the mechanic and changed by another.

Race, I read this one last night and as I think about it I'm not sure you're disagreeing. The items you listed do fall within the requirements of the pre-trip and do fall within the drivers expertise.

 

[local804]

A management person is not a certified mechanic.
a driver is not a certified mechanic.
the management person relies on the mechanics professional assessment of the equipment.
If the mechanic says the equipment is good then the driver does not have the mechanical expertise to dispute the point.
The question is not why UPS took things to this level but why the first mechanic assessed the equipment was safe.
]

By a certified mechanic, are you talking about certified by the state or certified by UPS? there is a difference. If the driver notices a crack or hears an audible air leak and it still gets the OK from the shop, does he still not have the expertise to dispute the point? I think your wrong here Tie.

 

[tieguy]

By a certified mechanic, are you talking about certified by the state or certified by UPS? there is a difference. If the driver notices a crack or hears an audible air leak and it still gets the OK from the shop, does he still not have the expertise to dispute the point? I think your wrong here Tie.

not sure what kind of mechanics you deal with up your way. I don't believe ups certifies automotive mechanics I could be wrong. I don't know of any mechanic that would send a driver out on the road with cracked brakes.

 

[scratch]

I don't know of any mechanic that would send a driver out on the road with cracked brakes.

No, but UPS does send us out with cheap brake parts! A few months ago, I wrote up my P7 because the brakes were squealing so bad. The mechanic actually wrote in my DVIR Book "OK for service, just cheap Chinese parts"!

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

Didnt UPS just pay $254,000 to a mechanic that was fired because he said some trailers were unsafe and UPS said they were?
Imo
Work as instruced and grieve the following day unless it involves safety.
People>Packages

It was package cars that were unsafe. They fired him for "not following management direction". In other words, when management tells you to put an unsafe vehicle on the road, you better do it. We need to get that Avon delivered. Funny thing is, the center where this guy is from ended up with a whole bunch of nice, shiny, new TRUCKS. Not saying we should all have new vehicles, but when you have old P-800s running around with 500,000 miles, you will run into safety problems. At least in an area that gets a lot of snow and the highway guys put a bunch of salt all over the road. That stuff raises havoc.

If you truly feel the equipment is unsafe, do not take it out on the road and risk hurting someone else, or more importantly yourself.

 

[local804]

500,000 miles damn

 

[cachsux]

In situations like this were our drivers have been told "or else" a stealth phone call to the state police with the trl number and the situation involved has had a trooper waiting at the gate for a safety inspection. Whatever you do don`t accidentally tell the trooper the name of the mgmt person who threatened your job because he might get in trouble.

 

[tourists24]

Are there any updates to this situation?... I noticed that the first post was about 2 weeks ago.

 

[wannabeups]

How on earth would the driver know there were cracks in the break pads? Wouldn't you have to take the tire off to be able to see that? Just seems kinda odd to me.quote]

Part of our pre-trip is to check the brake shoes. Take a look under a trailer some time. You can see the right ones (side view, like thickness) from the left side and vice versa.

You right on the money as usual 9 to five