Safety: A Part of UPS
While UPS is known as a company that came from humble roots to one that efficiently
manages global supply chains, history clearly reflects an equally important evolution
of safety.
From the very beginning, safety guidelines were developed for the company’s
bicycle messengers and then for drivers of the Ford Model T. In 1917, as training
and development programs began to take hold, drivers were given their first
defensive driving handbook.
As the company grew, UPS's safe driving honor roll grew with the adoption of
safety standards and procedures. The first five-year safe driving award was
presented in 1928 to Ray McCue by the company's founder, Jim Casey. Inscribed
in the gold and platinum watch presented to McCue was, "In appreciation
of five years of continuous service without an automobile accident."
In 1943, safe driving recognition was made uniform throughout the company and
recognition was given to drivers beginning with one year of safe driving. By
1955, four drivers became the first at UPS to reach 25 years of safe driving.
Today, UPS celebrates each safe driving accomplishment and inducts 25-year
safe drivers into the Circle of Honor, now with 4,451 members. Two hundred forty one of
those have more than 35 years without an accident. Ron Sowder, of UPS's Kentucky
District, holds the active record with 46 years of safe driving.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
UPS is the world’s largest package delivery company and the second largest
employer in the country with more than 358,000 U.S. employees (425,000 globally). Even as the company
continues to increase its level of technological sophistication, its primary
job remains moving more than 16 million packages and documents a day. You’re
still more likely to find a UPS employee driving a package car, or sorting packages
in a bustling hub, than behind a desk. In a phrase, “UPS moves America.”
That said, UPS does more and works harder to reduce injuries than almost any
company of its size. Here are some facts about safety initiatives at UPS:
Comprehensive Health and Safety Process (CHSP)
The CHSP program was
developed in 1995 to protect and improve the health and safety of UPS employees.
There are now more than 2,900 CHSP committees at UPS facilities around the world.
The committees consist of non-management employees (drivers and package handlers),
supported by a management co-chair, who together, conduct facility and equipment
audits, perform work practices and behavior analysis, conduct training and recommend
work process and equipment changes.
For the past five years, CHSP helped reduce lost workdays due to injuries by
over 60 percent, making sustained improvements each year.
Facility and equipment improvements
Over the past five years, more
than 40 individual design improvements have been made by UPS engineers to the
company's buildings, vehicles and equipment to help make the physical job of
moving 16 million packages a day less onerous.
Some of those improvements include: the widening of the door in our 65,000
package cars; the ergonomic design of hand trucks and handheld computers used
by drivers; the layout of new buildings to include “no lift” work
areas where packages are pushed or pulled instead of lifted to get them on their
way, and many more. Some of these ideas came directly from drivers and package
handlers through focus group meetings and CHSP committees.
Our new facilities utilize state-of-the-art automation technology to reduce
the need for employee handling. Extendible, variable height load and unload
equipment reduces the energy employees use to load and unload trailers.
Safe Driving
UPS drivers are among the safest on the road. Our 112,450
drivers log more than 2.5 billion miles a year and average less than one accident
per million miles driven. And there’s one reason for that record -
UPS’s certified management trainers who train that massive group on an
annual and periodic basis. The foundation of UPS’s safe driving platform
is space and visibility training that focuses on The Five Seeing Habits - proven safe driving methods.
Safety Training
Training is the cornerstone of safety at UPS. There
are about 350 management and administrative people, in addition to the 2,900
CHSP committees, who train the UPS workforce in safe work and driving methods.
The company invests more than US$53 million a year in safety training alone.
UPS employees receive nearly 1.3 million hours of safety-related training every
year. There are 26 formal UPS safety training courses taught in over 1,800 facilities.
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