So a few weeks ago I was sitting all night in a rest area. I woke up the next morning, checked my oil, kicked all my trailer tires, looked at my super singles, and my steers. Everything looked OK, so I jumped back in, cranked it up and got ready to move out. I put it in 1st, began to ease out of the parking spot, and heard a loud pop like a balloon had burst, and saw my passenger side steer tire rolling away. I stopped the truck, reversed back into the spot (no more than 10 feet I'd say I had moved) and gathered up the wayward tire.
Upon close inspection, the tire had a small piece of metal stuck in the tread that I had not noticed on my pretrip. I assume that the tire had lost some air pressure and it was so cold (about 19 degrees Fahrenheit) that it must have been hardened enough to slip right off the wheel. No damage to the wheel or the truck. Tire guy shows up, inspects wheel, no damage, so he puts on a new tire.
I am now being charged by the company with a preventable accident. I am of course going to contest it... but my concern is, if I cannot convince my safety department that it was non-preventable, will it go on my DAC, and if so, how serious is it? I am confused about how much weight a minor "accident" like this will carry, i.e. when I apply for another job some time in the future. It seems like everything I've read seems to say that the company can go either way, and it can be very damaging to my reputation and hireability. Any thoughts?
Tire came off of the wheel
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by 01cblue, Feb 1, 2012.
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Preventable accident? What part of the story are we not getting?
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Kicking the tires IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY to check proper tire pressure. A tire air pressure gauge and you actually checking the tires is the only way. If you were rolling down the highway and picked up a piece of metal and tire blew or went down thats one thing but you are saying you just pre-tripped (which means checking tire air pressure) and it then fell off. I would say it was preventable also. If they use DAC for reporting then that will look bad to some companies that use dac also. You might get some company CSA pts but no DOT CSA safety pts (which is on your license) Hopefully you will use this as a lesson to check the air pressure for real in which issue would have been caught before you moved the truck which is the reason for doing a pre-trip
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I believe you, but how does a tire coming off the rim in a rest area and rolling safely off to the curb warrant a "preventable accident"? In other words, what was damaged? Was other property damaged? As you tell the story, an "incident" would be the worse possible thing they could hang on you, but "preventable accident"? If all this is for true then you better have a very "considerate talk" with your safety supervisor and get the record straightened out to reflect an "incident" and NOT a "preventable accident". That may (probably will) come back to haunt you in the future when appearing on a DAC report.
Jarhed1964 and Giggles the Original Thank this. -
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hmmm i agree, i dont see where they can charge you with a preventable....
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The way I was told from the safety department, when the breakdown department has to send someone out to replace a tire that has come off like mine did, they consider that since they had to spend money on the tech to replace the tire, that it is like repairing "damage."
I don't get it either, it seems like whether the tire is still on the wheel or not, they'd have to send a tire tech out and pay him to replace a tire. -
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So in other words........you have costed us money and that's gonna cost ya.
That's pretty bush league.Jarhed1964 and HeWhoMustNotBeNamed Thank this.
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