Heads Up to Fellow Drivers: Speaking Up About Unsafe Loading at West Fraser (High Prairie) Led to an

When You Stand Up for Safety, Some Customers Use Complaints as Weapons
see what they said
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Received a customer complaint (below). No penalty however driver is banned from West Fraser. We do not want this driver back on site. He was very difficult to deal with. First, he demanded that our loader (who has been loading since 2016 ) load him a specific way. Which made heavy on his drives and the load had to be adjusted. He called and demanded a different loader because our loader wasn’t listening to him. I talked to our loader, and he said he already adjusted the load twice for the driver.. - I told the driver we will not drop a lift; this load was one of our lightest loads and that he is not heavy. We told him to way at the scale, he called back and said he weighed 73,000 pounds and he was heavy if he were to pickup any snow. Once again, we said we will NOT drop a lift . Anyway, we had our loader guy re-adjust him again ( I talked to the loader operator, and he said he ended up loading him the way he would have normally loaded this truck).

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I’m posting this for fellow drivers — not to argue, not to play victim, but to expose a reality many of us have faced.

When you challenge an unsafe loading practice, and when you make it clear you won’t continue working under unsafe conditions, some customers don’t fix the problem — they retaliate.

That’s exactly what happened to me.

“Just Load It Your Way” — Until Safety Becomes an Inconvenience
Before loading started, I told the forklift operator that my truck has a clearly marked load-center reference. I offered it to make the job easier and safer. He refused and said he had his own method.

Fine. I followed site rules, stayed in the cab, and let him do it his way.

After loading, one look at my gauges told the story:

• Drive axles: ~25,000 lbs
  
  
• Trailer axles: over 40,000 lbs

Anyone who’s been on winter roads knows what that means. A light drive axle in ice and snow isn’t “suboptimal” — it’s dangerous.

The Moment I Spoke Up, the Attitude Changed
I approached him calmly and explained the load was too far back and needed to be shifted forward. I pointed to the white line on my toolbox and said, “That’s my load center.”

I didn’t even finish the sentence.

He interrupted me, "F K ING DUMB!"insulted me, slammed his cab door, and started reloading aggressively, shaking the truck. Then he walked away. No discussion. No professionalism.

That was the moment it stopped being about loading and started being about ego.

A Token Adjustment and a Refusal to Communicate
When I checked again, the load had barely moved. The weight problem was still there.

I called the office. I didn’t report the verbal abuse — I was still trying to solve the problem. I simply explained the load was unsafe and asked if another operator could help. The answer was no.

I went to the scale:

• 36,160 kg (~79,650 lbs)
  
  
• Less than 400 lbs under the legal limit

Half a tank of fuel. Snow and ice expected. Winter conditions.
That margin is a joke — and a dangerous one.

Safety Requests Were Treated as an Obstacle
I spoke with my dispatcher, then contacted the customer. I reported the weight in kilograms, explained the winter risk, and asked if one unit could be removed.

Denied.

So I made one final request:

“Please move the load forward about three feet so the weight is properly distributed. This is a serious safety issue, especially in today’s conditions. One of your trucks is already in the ditch today. This is my last request, and I won’t be returning after this.”

That wasn’t a threat.
That was a professional boundary.

The Sentence That Exposed Everything
The same forklift operator came back. I pointed out the adjustment was still not enough.

He said:

“If I move it any farther forward, your drive axles will be overweight.”

I told him they would not be.

Then he said:

“This is the last time I’m adjusting it. If it’s still wrong, that’s on you. We’re done.”

Read that again.

That statement alone proves he did not believe the forward shift was correct, and that he wanted zero responsibility if something went wrong.

Yet later, the complaint claims the load was “placed according to our normal method.”

Those two statements cannot both be true.

And Then Came the Complaint
I took the load. I finished the job.

What I got in return was a complaint built entirely on the forklift operator’s version of events:

• Weights misrepresented
  
  
• Safety concerns minimized
  
  
• My actions reframed as “the problem”

Why?
Because they are a major customer.
And I’m just a driver.

Let’s Be Honest About What This Is
This wasn’t a misunderstanding.
This wasn’t poor communication.

This was:

• A refusal to correct an unsafe load
  
  
• Hostility toward a driver who spoke up
  
  
• And a complaint used as retaliation after I said I would no longer work under those conditions

A Message to Fellow Drivers
If you take anything from this, let it be this:

• When you insist on safety, expect resistance
  
  
• When you refuse unsafe work, expect pushback
  
  
• And when a customer feels challenged, expect paperwork instead of accountability

Document everything.
Trust your gauges.
Trust your experience.

No load is worth your life — and no customer complaint is worth dying over on an icy road.

Stay safe out there.

 

yes sir.
just beside 51Ave. I am not a newbee, hualing lumber for WEST FRASER lot of time from multiple mills. But here is the worst.
I need to add another serious safety issue that happened after I left the scale. A yard operator in a grapple machine got impatient because my truck was in his way. I had my hazard lights on and was slowly backing up to give him room, yet he floored it past my truck, within about five feet of my front bumper, roaring like a maniac.

This was reckless, aggressive, and completely unsafe. It’s the kind of behavior that’s going to cause a serious accident if it keeps happening. Drivers need to be aware — these people in the yard have zero patience and disregard for safety.

 

Stopping the loader to take a shortcut compromised road safety.
This led to a frame-up.
West Fraser does not deserve to serve.