Overboard with High Vis clothing

Hey GASHAULER,
Did you haul gas back in NJ?

 

No, we moved here to be close to my wifes family in southern NJ. I had already retired and not working. It's nice here and completely different than anywhere else in NJ but the same hosed up laws apply here no matter how many people are not here.

 

Holy smokes,quotes from Plato in the Truckers Report.Now I am impressed!!

 

went to get a load from international paper.long pants,vest,hard hat,and safety glasses required.went in office to get dock number,fell in pothole and have been home since the end of oct.had surgery and will be off to the first of march.all the safety stuff but they cant fix their lots

 

oh no.....hope you recover fully....that stinks.....

 

Been hauling aggregates in end dumps for 20+ years, its one of the more recent Changes for us. Nearly all Mine sites now require hard hats, steel-toe boots, high vis clothing if you exit the truck on mine property!!
As for deliveries-some construction sites require them, some do not, some asphalt/concrete plants require them so do not. It's an insurance/OSHA/MSHA thing around here.
I agreee with some of the earlier posts-if the job is a good one-just "grin and bear it"

 

I'm an OTR driver and I'm not required to wear a safety vest unless I'm at a Shipper or Receiver that requires it. But by choice I went and bought my own "safety T-shirts" and I have a nice warm "safety jacket" with the reflective material. In the winter time when I have to put chains on, I have some "safety rain bibs" I wear over my pants and when I get out of the truck to chain up I wear my "safety jacket" I mentioned above.

Is any of this required by my company? No, but when your on the side of the road putting chains on and 4-wheelers are flying by at 50-60 mph I would think they are going to see me. I also bought my own road flares and keep them in bundles of 3 with a couple of wraps of duck tape. At night if I'm broke down or chaining up I put my road flares out instead of my triangles. Is this required? No, but again I'm going out of my way to protect myself.

I can see this guy at night...



I can't see this guy at night...

 

Maybe they feel that if you have to wear it while driving, you won't forget to put it on when you get out of the truck.

 

I worked in the maint shop at a MSHA plant, Douglas, AZ. ALL personell onsite who went beyond the plant office were required by MSHA regs to be wearing hardhat, safety glasses and steeltoes. If the mine manager's secty came over to the shop, she suited up just like the miners and mechanics. All of the truckers who loaded out, also had to utilize the staircase and gangplank, which required putting on the fall protection harness which was attached to a fall-stop trolley. Then they walked the top of their trailer/s to dog the load hatches shut.
One driver, who happened to be loading as we were going through an un-announced MSHA inspection, tried arguing with the inspector who was checking the loadout area. The inspector found out who the driver was employed with, and wrote an S & S infraction with 3 citations against the freight company. At the time the plant shut down Jan, 2009, 1 S & S citation was running $120,000.00 so the drivers mouth cost his employer $360,000.00.
The other incident we had, a driver was climbing his trailer from the ground(in a hurry), and slipped and fell from the tank ladder onto the drawbar. Workman's comp wouldn't pay because the proper safety equipment was available and the driver chose not. He was out 4 months.
Yup, it's uncomfortable, and inconvienient, looks gay, takes too much time, doesn't really work, on and on ad nauseam. I worked there for 4 years and heard every reason under the sun, and a few from behind the dark side of the moon. I also had a pipe wrench bounce off of the hat instead of my skull, and got hoisted up the side of a lime storage tank after the ice I was standing on separated from the tank roof and my FP harness did what it was supposed to do. I wore it for 4 years, and only needed it to work 1 time. So much for unconvenient and uncomfortable.

 

Hey-It's one more thing to do to humor people.When i drove a flatbed i had a hard hat,safety glasses,safety vest and steel toed boots.Whatever happened or didn't i was covered for having proper equipment.Transporting equipment for a rental co we had to wear a harness in the boom lifts and scissor lifts.As low to the ground as i was it made more sense not wearing it.I'd rather jump than hang upside down.I wore it anyway.One co i worked at had Uvex safety glasses.I called them the "Look like a dork at co expense program".I can count ten times in the about ten years i wore those with contacts they directly saved one or both eyes from something.Wear the vest,keep your job.A space suit i might say no.The vest,no big deal.Take care.Brian