I had a load last Friday that was just about impossible to get on top of. Or I should say I might have gotten on top of it, but I would have to have jumped on the the cab box from the load. I had to get a lumber tarp up there so I didn't want to go that route. No one had a ladder tall enough either. I just happened to be in the Joplin yard, not about to give up, I started looking around and spotted a trailer on top of a trailer. It was just the right height so I could make it without too much strain. I'm 6'1" with a few extra pounds, but my brain is in excellent shape!

 

You did this in a company yard? That would NOT fly in our terminal.

 

I didn't ask. Any other way, expecially a ladder would have been much more dangerous. The only, relatively, safe way would have been a tarping station with a harness or even better, a tarping station that drags your tarp up over the load.

 

TL, what was the load doing in the Joplin Yard without a tarp on it already?

 

Rappelling is used to descend. Ascenders are used to lift oneself.

A properly used ladder is far safer and quicker than any of the methods that have been mentioned here. Since the guy from management believes that a driver never has to climb on the load and that if a driver fell from a ladder no one might find him I have to wonder if he ever drove. A driver climbing on a load with no ladder has a much greater chance of injury than with a ladder.

There is no doubt that using a ladder can be dangerous but at least they are designed for climbing. To "Shimmy" up a load is not the best thing to do. For countryhorseman, OSHA says nothing about needing to secure the ladder. It has to be on a stable and level surface and the angle should be one foot horizontal for ever four feet vertical.

 

Snake just brought up a very valid point. OSHA is who you have to worry about. They supercede any company policy and those little pricks will show up anywhere when you least expect it. Climbing up onto a load without the aid of a ladder or some type of harness system will get you and your company fined. I do not agree with many of OSHA's rules but I still abide by them no matter what company policy is. We aren't required to wear hard hats by the company but I have been on some jobs where I put one on anyways because OSHA had been seen lurking in the area and I was delivering under men working overhead.

 

Big shout out to Terry. Thanks for the MPG tips, they're working. Running around 6.40 MPG up from 5.5-5.75. Set the cruise on 62, changed up my shift pattern on the low side, and going easy on the go pedal. We'll see if it adds any boost to my paycheck. Seems they already sneaked an extra percent in on me a couple weeks back, I'm at 28% now.

As for you ladder sissies, what are you going to do if you meet some tall nice looking gal, she's going to laugh at your ladder. I say climb that mother and get the job done.

 

She's gonna laugh even harder when you come tumbling down because you thought you were a monkey. The laughing will be over when you're filing paperwork or sweeping leaves in Des Moines, with no home time, and hobbling around in a cast.

First order of business is to protect yourself! No one in the office is going to care that you were trying to hustle for the company when they have disability to pay out. And I'm not picking on TMC...every company is the same.

 

Congrats on your MPG increase and 28% on your snap-shot! Keep up the good work! Before ya know it, you will bumping 30%!

 

I was really hoping no one would take me seriously, but I should have known better.

Seriously, I would submit that the greatest danger is when you're on top of the load and not actually climbing it, therefore it's really just a personal preference as to how you want to get up there before you come tumbling off.