Anyone ever refuse a load for safety issues

most companies will tell you to go get it fixed.
now some shippers will inspect the trailer, and if it does not pass inspection, then they refuse to load you. example, G-P and Smurffit Stone, the load rolls of pulp board, and they are very heavy, and if there is side rail damage, or roof and wall damaage they have final say if you get loaded or not.
but refusing a load can lead to termination for refusing a load.
if there is a problem with the truck or trailer you will be told to go get it fixed, and if the load is a JIT load, then they will tell you to get fixed and they will haved to find another driver to pick up the load.

 

If there is one thing wrong with a trailer that makes it OOS then it's OOS to me. I'm not dragging that thing one inch until it's fixed. I get paid by the hour waiting for the fix and it's a good rate so why would I risk myself or anyone else.

 

If you go to pick up a trailer and it's not up to requirements let your company know they will tell you how to proceed with getting it fixed. However there are some scumbag co's out there that may tell you to run it illegally or without fixing it or whatever, in that case drive to the nearest scale house and pull on in. Let the DOT know the situation and they will solve the problem for you and it will not come back on you.

 

Its basically your call driver. I have driven for companies (especially LTL companies) who will tell you to continue driving with unsafe equipment until the final delivery is made. In some instances i have continued driving because the problems were not safety critical. I can remember a few cases where i actually just had to put my foot down. Never put your life, the lives of people on the road, or your career on the line for a trucking company.

 

i refused one due to the load contents itself. it was 46,400lbs of steel coils inside of a dry van. they weren't secured with any 2x4's, straps, or anything. they were simply placed on the floor. i didn't want to be the sucker-fool to have those shift on me. plus, as far as i'm concerned, that should have been loaded on a #### flatbed.

 

i REFUSED AN LOAD ONCE .... I WAS SUPPOSED TO PICK UP 1000 CHICKENS ON MY FLAT BED .... AFTER THEY NAILED DOWN THE 10TH CHICKEN I JUST COULDNT TAKE THE SCREAMING ANY MORE........

 

i REFUSED AN LOAD ONCE .... I WAS SUPPOSED TO PICK UP 1000 CHICKENS ON MY FLAT BED .... AFTER THEY NAILED DOWN THE 10TH CHICKEN I JUST COULDNT TAKE THE SCREAMING ANY MORE........

Now THAT'S funny, I don't care who you are!!

refused one due to the load contents itself. it was 46,400lbs of steel coils inside of a dry van. they weren't secured with any 2x4's, straps, or anything. they were simply placed on the floor. i didn't want to be the sucker-fool to have those shift on me. plus, as far as i'm concerned, that should have been loaded on a #### flatbed.

Been there, done that too. They were smaller coils used in the manufacture of appliances. They were on pallets with no bracing. No thanx!

 

I know with Schneider, I think its in regards to picking up empty trailers at least...if you are assigned a trailer and find it to be not road worthy, you send in a Macro for a Trailer Bad Order. That will let them know its fixed and they will assign you another trailer.

I think as far as picking up a loaded trailer...they will probably try to get you to bring the truck to a trailer shop if possible, otherwise they would send someone out to fix it.

But then again, Im not sure, lol....I've never had a trailer that was unsafe. I've had some problems where I've had to jerry-rig some stuff in order for the trailer to get back to the shop and get fixed.

 

I did once at Werner, some moron had slammed this trailer into something, it had a gash going from the front corner of it back toward the middle top. When we arrived we at first thought someone had put something ON TOP of it, when we got up close we saw that was actually the trailer metal folded back over the top of the trailer. We told dispatch there was absolutely no way we were picking that trailer and moving it till it was fixed or the load was transloaded.

#1 As soon as we hooked to it they probably would have claimed we did it.

#2 I was very unsure how stable the trailer would be with that kind of damage

#3 The load was a home depot load, one of their 'special' customers and there had been a HEAVY downpour right before we arrived and I for one did not want to be the one to deliver if that load was ruined due to water damage.

What I cannot understand is how the driver thought he would get away with that, I mean... its very noticeable he HAD to notice when he uncoupled, it was the left front corner. We noticed it from 30 feet away at night. Safety was PISSED.

And how did the guard not notice?!