Heading For Little Rock! Maverick

I loaded down south one time. A lumber load. Shipper chewed me out. You have to wear that safety line. I told him and showed him. I am 12 feet off the ground. The rip cord is 13 feet long.... Doesn't matter for safety reasons you have to wear it.... Yeah; so I can land on the D-Ring and break a hip... Or I could spin on the way down to take up slack... Never mind; bad idea. Then I would be like a yo-yo once I bounce off the pavement...

 

I'm gonna tell on myself...but it is kinda funny (it is now, at the time...not so much)

Moncure, NC a few weeks ago...they have "rip cords" that only catch when the reel unwinds "fast" (as in falling)...well, I jumped down to the trailer from on top of the load...or at least I tried to (just wasn't thinking about that %#$# harness...)

Squashed nuts, sore ribs (hit the edge of the bundle of particle board)...and bruised pride

Nobody saw it, thankfully... I quickly pulled myself back to the top of the load using the "rip cord".

I get really aggravated at all this stuff (safety harnesses, pulling in between those trailers, and all that)...a flatbedder needs to be able to get on his trailer and/or the load.

I'm all for safety, but people need to realize that you CANNOT remove all the risks in life and work...just getting out of bed is risky...its gotten to the point that its getting ridiculous (and its getting old...fast)

I'd very much prefer they just load the trailer and get the hell out of my way and let me do the job the way I have always done it....either that, or they do it they way they want it done and assume responsibility for it.

 

Did the exact same thing myself at Moncure. I "hopped" off the end of the load onto the deck and the rip cord caught. Stopped me just a few inches off the deck. I had hopped down facing the load so I just grabbed a step real quick and pulled myself back up. Nothing hurt. Just felt like an idiot. But as long as we are sharing.

I completely agree about all the safety stuff. It seems that the places that really need it don't do anything and the ones that don't really get into it.

I loaded super sacks and had to walk all over the load to tarp it. Now that is dangerous, but then you load a nice square load of particle board and you have to wear a harness...Doesn't make much sense.

 

Hubby just got his 1 year in with Maverick. He had to go to LR to do a few things and he said they treated him like a King. Everybody spoke to him, called him by name, and were so very respectful. He was even asked to speak to a class in training. He left there with a great feeling. Thanks Maverick.

 

Good to hear that his time at Maverick has been enjoyable and that he didn't give it up. Those first 6 months or so can be very trying times.

Keep up the good work out there guys, and be careful this week. Oh, and racing at Bristol next weekend so be ready for some traffic on 81, 40, 75, 77 and 26 in this area.

 

i'm laughing my *** off at the Moncure incidents....only because i've done it three times myself, once just stepping off the trailer to the catwalk too quick, it strained my lower back when it jerked the crap outta me. I hate Moncure.
and the tanker thing I can relate to also, anyone ever load those big ol' paper rolls out of Austelle, GA? fun stuff to tarp for sure.

 

Same thing can happen at the SWN sand plant if you jump down off the last step of the trailer too fast. At least there we're tethered to their safety rack which is a long cable that then has a shuttle with your actual safety cable. The good thing is you can hang on to it to keep yourself stable while walking on top.

The well we're working went down today because the outfit doing the fracking (sp) dropped a cable and they had to bring a special truck up from Houston to fish it back out. I made one trip to the well staging pad with a load, sat for about 90 minutes then came back to NLR and reloaded then they sent us home. Looking for a good 12-15 hr day tomorrow. As soon as this well is done we move on to the next which should be right down the road.

Definitely the best trucking gig I've ever had so far.

 

I work for over 8 years I was black hat when I start at maverick was the best place to drive for they care about the driver and then they change it was all about money and get bigger they put curt in the teaching the new hires the maverick way and this the same man. That gave the hell he talk so bad about maverick I want to kick his butt. He did the same job for tmc tell all there trainer it him are us so tmc told curt to hit the road. Just maybe if maverick open there eye they will see what going on and fix it nefore it to late. I train for maverick for 3 years I love maverick tell I got off the road to to work at home and when that did work out I started looking at trucking company to find out that maverick had put bs on my dac. I toke there truck to them. I left the rite way just so they could crap on me

 

Wow...That was hard to read.