Tankers the Schneider way

I think you are talking about common sense, which obviously a lot of people lack. You can also call it plain stupidity. I learned on a curtainside trailer, which is basically a flatbed. I will not argue with you, but anyone can start anywhere and make it a career in trucking. Just like ethos said. If I am provided with the necessary training I will make it. It's not rocket science, it's trucking.

 

A curtain side is yes a flat bed... But where does that piece that fell on the floor go? It's just like a van. . One needs to be trained where they can go to get a job. Ever look through a magazine? 90% of the jobs are either refers or vans.. Most tank companies want at least a year or more. And that's right driving isn't rocket science, but just like you learned how to walk, you were properly trained to do it. So here somebody learns on tanks, something happens, laid off ,quit , fired what ever.. Then what are you going to do? Be retrained again so you can drive a van? Or the hell with it? That's one reason why there is a large driver turn over, and a large drop out rate. And if you were provided the proper training as you claim, I bet that when you learned to walk that you fell down alot and still hit things with your head. You just can't do that in tankers.. They are for people who can run, and not fall down or hit their heads

 

Well you bring up a lot of stuff with no paragraphs so it will be hard to answer them all but here goes.

As of right now my student and I are at the J in Casper,WY heading to Blaine, WA, so that is pretty far west and north.
I do have a respirator and the fit is checked every year. Not sure how hard one needs to train with a respirator, if you need it you just put it on. Not all that complicated.

Actually only 30% of our loads are hazmat, national average. As far as a neutralizing agent I have no idea what you are talking about and I doubt any other driver to include yourself carried enough neutralizing agent around to help them all that much. You can't be prepared for everything. What I do is just not spill and so far it has been working.

I think you said something about securing a load and I agree that is why I teach my students to make sure the valves are closed, wash out caps tight and the dome lid secured. Seems to be working.

As far as every driver needing to drive a straight and then a combination and so on. That is a fantasy land that honesty doesn't even need to happen. I train brand new out of school drivers to pull a tanker and I do it without fear.

 

Oh and as far as OSHA training, always useful, I again don't know what your talking about unless it's that training Schneider gives every year to renew my hazmat card. It's not 8 hours though and thank God it's about as useless as tits on a bull.
But I have done OSHA training before and without my vivid imagination and schizophrenia I might have been bored to death. Other than yes it saved my life and all.

 

Schneider's internal statistics say the same thing. Almost verbatim.

 

First OSHA requires a fit test for a respirator and the knowledge of what filters to use for what your working with. , and OSHA law requires it to be stored inside the bag that the respirator came in originally. Second OSHA requires that you will be trained to be able to fix or maintain the respirator. It's not all that easy as you say. Second everybody should be able to drive a straight truck. As that is the basis of all trucking. Your lucky you don't have to train others on a set of sticks. You see because when one drives a truck , they are covered under the DOT and OSHA. Unless you are doing clean up you only need a 24 hour or an 8 hr class in Hazmat. With refresher class every 2 years. And if you deliver into a mine or an aggregate plant ie hot plant, concrete plant, one needs to have MSHA training. And on site training.
And just how much training does one get in a few short weeks driving a van let alone a live load?

 

I did it the old school way... Non cdl straight truck to bobtail to dump truck/transfers to full blown gasoline truck and trailers

 

so that's why allof those experienced drivers from Swift park in the middle of the freeway in Wyoming during the winter. . Gee. I didnt know swift had any experienced drivers. A new driver is afraid of the truck just like anybody starting at a new type of job. And the older drivers that have the experience that have major accidents are those that don't respect the truck or the road. Those that do respect that truck and road condition will be your million mile plus drivers. And they may have incidents, like backing into the fence at the yard, but don't have accidents. Why? They don't speed, drive looking down the road, don't tailgate, and are never in a rush, but will get that load on or off on time. And when they go into a truckstop.. They use it to shower, eat and sleep, and not stay up all night playing the video games so they are well rested when their shift begins.
As for the experience in vans picking up bad habits.. Gee I guess those bad habits that I picked up vanished when I started doing 14 ft wide, 15'8" high , 110 long loads.and over 160,000 lb loads. If when I was being trained if I expressed any aggressive driving, I would have got the crap knocked out of me, and tossed out the window by my trainer. But then they taught you how to drive truck.. And we had fun doing it. Are you having fun? Doubt it.

 

I have delivered to all of those places and the most training I have ever received before entry is a video. Then I sign some paper saying I understand the safety requirements and then I make my delivery. Most of the time I just read the rules and sign. Then some bored guard let's me in. I still have my respirator in the original bag....somewhere. Hazmat training is covered in orientation. How I would have survived if I didn't receive that useful training is beyond me.

There is nothing special about delivering hazmat, you put on your proper PPE and get it done. It's not all that different from any other delivery. Making it sound harder than it is doesn't make it so. Safety is common sense. Which can be lacking.