sidewinder
just pushing the paper
I wish all mechanics and automotive sups thought like you do. Every time we walk in the door, you would thank you were asking them to change out your engine or something.
re: driving unsafe equipment
- Thread starter hypocrisy
- Start date
sidewinder
just pushing the paper
Why would any of you be arguing about safety!!! Crowbar is just trying to put info out for our knowledge (THANK YOU, by the way) to help us be more concerned and/or knowledgeable about our safety and especially others. If you feel ok with driving faulty equipment, then you make this place worse for all of us who actually care!! Now, as far as a strap breaking or something to that effect during the day, I personally would at least make the phone call and discuss it with a sup. Whether you feel like finishing the day with it or not would be between your conscience and the sups (depending on what it is, of course). So please, myself included, we should at the bare minimum, do our pre-trips and post-trips and like crowbar said earlier, hopefully we could get it fixed while we are on rest and wont have to worry about it later. I can tell you this much, be glad that you done have UPSF mechanics laying up under your equipment. And thats all I got to say about that!!
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Would you intentionally delete the 3-point seat belt option from a vehicle that you bought for your wife or child...in order to save $50?
Would you intentionally design that vehicle in such a manner that, in the event of a head-on collision, your wife or childs head would be propelled thru the windshield while their jaw gets crushed againt the unpadded steering wheel?
Would you intentionally delete the power steering from a vehicle you bought for your wife or child?
Would you order a vehicle for your wife or child that came with a low-backed "seat" that was little more than an upholstered board with no back support or adjustment capability?
I didnt think so.
UPSF Peeon
Well-Known Member
he said he bases it on if he would want his wife and child driving behind the package car....not driving the package car
RoyalFlush
One of Them
What motivates you to drive such unsafe vehicles? If the risk is as you state, aren't you making the same decision you claim UPS made - putting people or yourself at risk in name of money? You probably could find a more safe job that pays a little less, maybe 20k less. For 20k you are risking severe injury and death?
The injuries are communicated daily in most districts and regions. If the events you infer were occurring wouldn't we know about them? It is either a very rare event or these alleged severe injuries are going undetected.
The risk you take is your own choice. In exchange for compensation you assume the known risks when you accepted the job. It's the same for all jobs in all professions. King crab fishermen get paid well for accepting the inherent risk. Same theory applies to us.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
You are correct that by accepting my job I have made a choice to assume a certain level of risk in exchange for a wage.
I can accept the fact that UPS does not have any concern for the health or safety of its employees. UPS is in business to make a profit, and it is cheaper and more profitable to delete safety features on the equipment than it is to spend money to add them. It is cheaper and more profitable to replace a dead or injured driver with a lower-wage new hire than it would be to spend any unneccesary money on safety upgrades that might prevent the death orinjury in the first place.
What I cannot accept...is when the same company that decided that the life of the driver wasnt worth a $50 seat belt upgrade then turns around and makes a big dog-and-pony show out of its so-called "safety committees" and bombards us on a daily basis with empty rhetoric, commentaries, word games, and other verbal drivel in order to create a phony "culture of safety".
You cant have it both ways. Actions speak louder than words. Its OK with me that UPS doesnt give a damn about our safety...just quit trying to pretend otherwise.
RoyalFlush
One of Them
The risk is very low. You are more likey to get killed or seriously injuried in your personal car than in a UPS vehicle and you spend far more time in the UPS vehicle. You keep saying it's unsafe or UPS doesn't care. It's OK to have an opinion, but its not supported by facts. Look up the statistics.
Bubblehead
My Senior Picture
Come on now Brownie, you're not listening. The stats that you refer to bare that the omitted equipment would make the vehicles safer. I think this is impossible to dispute. Sober's objection is to the hypocrisy in light of the numerous expensive technological upgrades, while ignoring obvious safety upgrades in the name liability and cost. All the while trying to create an empty illusion of concern with committees and commentaries. To come to the realization that our great company views us as nothing more than a piece of equipment is disheartening and counter-intuative, but it is what it is.
rod
Retired 23 years
So that is why one of my old CMs called all his drivers "Meat" instead of their given name
RoyalFlush
One of Them
According the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin 13% of the population has been injured in motor vehicle accident requiring medical attention within a 10 year period.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/Traffic Injury Control/Articles/Associated Files/810977.pdf
Nothing personal, but you would have to demonstrate that the vehicles are more unsafe than the norm to make a valid case.
Look up the Pinto case to see how it was justified.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
I can "demonstrate" that the vehicle is unsafe just by sitting in it and leaning forward. With the 2 pt belt buckled I can lean forward and rest my forehead on the windshield while my jaw touches the top of the steering wheel. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to visualize what would happen in a head-on collision.
A 3 point belt would prevent this. The vehicle was designed to be compatible with such a belt; UPS chose to save $50 by deleting this feature. The life of the driver was not deemed to be worthy of the expense.
How are you getting that UPS "deleted" these features. I have spec'd the chassis and bodies for other delivery companies in the past and it is never an option to delete it. So in that same thought, did we delete airbags, padded steering wheels, crush panels and sections to absorb impact energy? These are twenty year old box vans we are talking about, not Volvo station wagons. Do you think that if we spent another $1000.00 in safety equipment per car that the union would be willing to take a pay cut to absorb a portion of the cost? The money would have to come from somewhere? But I am sure that that discussuion would be short lived and not very fruitful.
Bubblehead
My Senior Picture
Yet the company is willing to spend $800 per said 20yr old box van to retrofit it with telematic sensors?
We're only talking about a $50 seat belt.
Now can you see the hypocrisy?
Safety first?
I say empty rhetoric.
Bubblehead
My Senior Picture
Nobody's talking about comparing package cars with passenger vehicles, as if we had a choice as which to drive at the time of an accident.
Nor is anybody trying to win a law suite here.
What's being pointed out, if I'm understanding Sober, is that UPS says one thing in its preachings on safety, while demonstrating another by their actions and apathy toward safety issues with obvious inexpensive remedies.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
+1
UPS will only spend money on "safety" issues if it is required to do so by OSHA.
Its not about "safety" at all....its about getting a passing grade on a Keter audit.
Integrity
Binge Poster
soberups,
Are you trying to say that these items were standard on the vehicles when they were made and that a UPS management employee had these things deleted from the vehicle?
If so, what proof do you have? This may help me as I develop my statement for my July 1, 2010 report to the UPS Help Line. Thank You.
Sincerely,
I
Well we're kind of off on a tangent but I have been told that the power steering was deleted from the old gas P-1000 cars by every mechanic and several automotive managers since the early 90's. It was always said that it was at a cost of $500 per car, and kind of made sense as the chevy crate motors I've seen in the shop come complete with all accessories. Kind of a moot point now since power steering is mandated in all new package cars, from 1994 on up if I recall correctly.
I remember one Center manager commenting on the lack of power steering with "Do you know how long UPS has operated without needing power steering" to which I replied "I guess we didn't need to add power brakes then did we?". He's now an on-car supervisor.
It's just one of those really dumb things about this company that keep us from completely dominating the industry like we used to do and from being the best company in the U.S. to work for.
I remember one Center manager commenting on the lack of power steering with "Do you know how long UPS has operated without needing power steering" to which I replied "I guess we didn't need to add power brakes then did we?". He's now an on-car supervisor.
It's just one of those really dumb things about this company that keep us from completely dominating the industry like we used to do and from being the best company in the U.S. to work for.
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