weight shifted and the poles fell on (trucker)....

The loading and unloading of trucks occurs in our industry countless times every day without incident. But, that does not mean the hazard is still there. Here is a recent story that emphasizes the hazard of unloading/loading a truck:

Local county police were called to the scene of an industrial accident one morning during the month of March 2017 after a delivery driver from the Eastern USA was killed while unloading large aluminum poles at a business.

Police were called to the around 8:15 a.m. and found the driver deceased at the scene. Detectives found no signs of foul play. Preliminarily, it appears that the driver was unloading a large pile of poles when the weight shifted and the poles fell on him.

No one else was involved in the incident.

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased family, friends, and coworkers. We pray that overtime that they will remember the deceased as he lived and not as he died.

Some companies in our industry take for granted the loading and unloading of trucks in their facility. That failure to acknowledge this hazard evaporates the first time an incident occurs. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents in the past involving truckers, aluminium company employees, etc. who have been injured or killed when the loading/unloading of truck went bad. How does it go bad? The number one reason we have noted is the failure for workers to first set up a plan on how to load or unload a truck. Why? Time must be the driving force in workers or truck drivers from jumping right into the loading/unloading. Truckers are trying to unload their truck as fast as they can. Aluminium workers are trying to load a truck as fast as they can. Sometimes when concentrating on how fast you can accomplish a task you fail to see the warning signs. From be backed over, pinned against a forklift loading a trailers, etc. sadly we have seen it all. Though the news article does not delve into exactly what had occurred we can only make assumptions based on our experience of loading hundreds of trucks. Assuming the aluminium pipe were long in length (5-7 meter). Each bundle (or it could have been loose pipe) would have been strapped down in three place (on each end and the middle). If that was done, the trucker could have unstrapped each end, and left the middle strap for last. At which time upon releasing the tension in the strap the load toppled down upon him. However it happened, the previous mentioned scenario should never be performed without first have the load secured by an overhead crane of forklift.

Be warned that the following will read as insensitive, callous, etc. But, when we visit plants and talk to management about safety we ask a simple question. “Who is the most dangerous person in your plant?” Almost always no one responds with an answer. We explain that the most dangerous person in your plant is not there yet. It is the contractor, the vendor, the visitor, the trucker. Our industry is very very good at educating the contractor, the vendor and the visitors. Some companies fail to acknowledge that the trucker entering our plant is a hazard that we have to mitigate. Your plant should not make the assumption on the competency of a trucker the first time they enter your facility . Making an assumption can easily result in an injury or fatality. All first time truckers entering your plant should undergo some sort of training. Which will include but not limited to hazards, speed limits, cell phone usage, butane cartridge, plastic water bottles, etc. Second your aluminium plant should provide assistance/guidance/observation to confirm that the trucker knows what he is doing regarding strapping down a load or unloading a truck. How? Train one of your workers to observe truckers when they are unloading and report immediately any behaviors or procedures that your plant deems “unsafe”. That alone would greatly reduce the incidents that occur involving a trucker.

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