No Tarping Station-No Tarping?

You ever tarp or untarp in the wind, snow, and ice, on a load sitting 14' off the ground before?

Myself...I know it's not easy....Otherwise...."Door-Slammers" would be doing it.....For $.35/M too.....

My point is.....The job is dangerous enough without having to fall.....

If you can defy the laws of gravity....Be my guest and try it.....

 

I rarely haul tarped lumber anymore.....$1/m for that much effort even with tarping stations is not worth it.....

Now I have been to say GAF in Wilimington, CA....They are a bit extreme.....
On the loud speaker in the yard, drivers are reminded every two minutes in both English and Spanish, that you are not to get on your deck to tarp.......

The loads are one pallet high......So I don't see a problem.....


Now go to the other extreme....Weyerhaeuser in Salem, OR.....No tarp station.....And it takes an act of God to get the lift hands to load your 8' drops on the load.....Don't fall off either....It will be your "fault".....

Best place I have seen for tarping was an insulation panel manufacturer in Las Vegas, NV.....I can't remember their name....Close to Nellis though.....But they will not allow drivers to tarp the loads.....

The load hands place your tarps...unroll them....And then help the drivers to get the load out of there ASAP.....They have 100 loads per day, seven days a week that have to get out.....So they are fast...efficient and helpful.....And the loads pay great too....

 

How many of you O/O's are completely "Self-Insured"?

I am.....But I can't afford to take time off if I got hurt.....

I spent about 35 years in the construction industry and when OSHA regs started to become enforced more in the mid 80's....I fought it tooth and nail.....

But I have seen many good men get injured or worse....Killed because safety was secondary.....

Myself....I was laid up for 8 weeks in '89 due to shoring in a deep excavation failing.....

30' feet below flow line in "sugar sand" with timbers (3" X 12" shoring uprights and 8" X 8"-"Whalers and "Spreaders") is no place to skirt on safety.....That was back before shields were widely used btw......It's a sick sound when a "whaler" splits and you can't make it to the ladder in time......

 

So if one guy gets hurt or killed.....It's worth it to you not have a tarping station?

Should we remove the "Confined Space" rule as well since it may inconvenience a few people?


We have quite a few people entering this industry who have never worked in dangerous conditions.....

Many went from working office jobs or flipping burgers to trucking.....And based on what I see almost daily on the ribbon....The CDL mills are not properly training these new drivers at all....Then you have the "Megas" who will take a recent graduate and place them with a "trainer" who has 6 months of OTR experience....Yeah....That's a great idea.....

The days when you could hand a kid the keys and point to the rig or equipment and tell them to "Run it"...are gone....
That's how I leaned how to run equipment and drive trucks....But 30+ some odd years back....There was less a "Wet-Behind-The-Ears" kid could mess up....

Today...People assume if a person is 40 years old....They have "40 years of experience" or the very least....A little commonsense....

Well...Commonsense would tell you that tarping in 30 mph wind and rain is unsafe.....But people will do it thinking they can get it done faster if they work faster.......And I have heard that before from a rookie whose boss told him that line.....

 

Uh....Let me check....It could be full....