Operator Goes by the Book for Safety’s Sake

Isaias Diaz, an operator at Watco Greens Port, recently did something by the book that caught a safety person’s attention.

Diaz was in a staging area driving a reach stacker, preparing to hoist a shipping container onto a type of flatbed trailer used for rolling large cargo onto a ship. As he lifted the container, he noticed the driver seated in the yard mule attached to the trailer.

An occupied vehicle in this scenario is against Watco’s written standard operating procedure (SOP) for Truck Loading-Unloading when it comes to containers. The procedure states that the operator should maintain eye contact with the driver and verify that the driver is out of the vehicle to ensure that the immediate work area is clear.

That’s exactly what Safety Specialist Ernest Johnson observed: He saw Diaz stop what he was doing until the mule driver exited the cab so that Diaz could load the container onto the trailer.

“We require the driver to exit the mule with these loads due to the possibility of the trailer and mule rolling over if the load is not placed in the center,” says Brent Shields, senior vice president of environmental, health, and safety. “We’re glad Isaias was looking out for that driver.”