Nabbed by VicRoads

[Jack91]

So boss says "go to powdercoaters, pick up a steel staircase, meet me at this address. Its sitting on pallets because its so awkward and heavy so just fork it straight on".
In the small work truck, ends up about 1.2m past the end of the tray. Not feasable to turn it over when its only a couple km trip and risk dropping or dinging it (about 800kg). Put a flag on it and hope Im under 60% (looks wise its not too bad). Of course route goes straight past a Vicroads office and they got me. Boss comes down and immediately "why did you put it on like that?" and, Ive been with the guy for 5 years so I was pretty amazed he turned on me like that in front of them. Turns out the end of the tray is the axle overhang limit which yes, I should have measured and known, I got complacent. Anyway, anything over 1m overhang now has mandatory court appearance and this is 1.2m. Anyone know what I can expect?
Ive got a totally clean driving history if it helps.

Edit- This is being handled by the NHVR because the truck is over 4.5t gvm and Ive got a hr license.

[cheap]

In my world, as assessment would have been made and you would have been given a warning.

But in Victoria, a cash strapped, autocratic police state, where nearly everyone is treated as a criminal. Court will be told that you have endanger the entire Galaxy (move over Thamos). You will likely get a fine and demerit points, which will impact upon your insurance rating.

If on the other hand you were wearing a veil over your face nothing would have been said.

[slowsnake]

First of all you boss is a proper pratt!
Who took the staircase to the powder coaters initially and in what vehiçle,?
You followed your employers instructions and he should of told the inspector that,I would use that as a defence in court and your boss should pay all costs, fines etc including a solicitor.
I feel sorry for you, and you now know your boss is not loyal to his workers,but as usual you are loyal to him, typical of a greedy and selfish, self serving *****.

All the best in court,let us know how you get on!



Cheers Billy.

[Jack91]

Agree. Its a shame I dont smoke meth. They probably would have offered to help us install it too.

[.:4:.]

The thing which I made vocal to my boss is yeah, work car, however as the driver it's my licence. I had to really drill it into a couple of guys I work with because when told to go get a 1500kg lift from kennards in their Van's which have a towing rating of only 1200kgs they can get done. I bought that up but only fighting for myself not anyone else with the boss and with a few other factors I got an upgrade to a car with 2.5t rating. If you bring up something like that your boss cant say just do it, and if they do get it in writing. So really all I'm saying is there is some personal responsibility in knowing what you can or cannot do as the driver because at the end of the day it's your license and if it's something you agreed to do in a work vehicle, you accept the liability.

[Mercury Bullet]

Dont forget to drop the fine on the bosses desk as you walk past.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Dont forget to drop the fine on the bosses desk as you walk past.

As someone who has a truck listed in his signature section, you should know carrying a safe load is the drivers responsibility!

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

As someone who has a truck listed in his signature section, you should know carrying a safe load is the drivers responsibility!

Sure do and im reasonably sure jack is mature enough to understand his side.

I also understand pressure from bosses.
I note the boss didn't supply a truck big enough to do the job legally.

Catch 22.

[Jack91]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Dont forget to drop the fine on the bosses desk as you walk past.

Thats a given.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Jack91

Thats a given.

I'd be dropping my trousers on his desk and leave him a "special" message!


Billy.

[Jack91]

I realise that, its my stuff up. I should have said no. But I didnt. Hopefully some of the blame comes back to the business, but yes as the driver, the car/truck and anything on it is your own responsibility. Dont care about the fines, so long as no, or few points.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Jack91

In the small work truck, ends up about 1.2m past the end of the tray.

did you load yourself or did someone load it for you? how does chain of responsibility work? I believe the person loading the truck is also responsible??


it may sound harsh, and you probably felt stupid as soon as you got done, but the 'she'll be right, its just up the road' attitude is still too prevalent in my view. you see a lot worse than exceeding overhang by 200mm most days of the week.

I guess you made their job easy for them by driving past their office.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by prydey

did you load yourself or did someone load it for you? how does chain of responsibility work? I believe the person loading the truck is also responsible??


it may sound harsh, and you probably felt stupid as soon as you got done, but the 'she'll be right, its just up the road' attitude is still too prevalent in my view. you see a lot worse than exceeding overhang by 200mm most days of the week.

I guess you made their job easy for them by driving past their office.

Yeah I dunno if the she'll be right attitude applies to an oversight. I've been guilty of the she'll be right before knowingly overloading vans and making a trip. Riding on bump stops is a tad harsh. On something like what the OP is blowing up about the first offence should be a warning if things are fair, but who knows. I'm guessing trucks have different rules to cars. Dunno about Victoria, but in nsw last time I checked for a car it was 1200mm past the rear with a flag. I haven't had to check in years because the longest things I put on my roof are 6m and my current work ute is over a metre longer then my old van.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by prydey

did you load yourself or did someone load it for you? how does chain of responsibility work? I believe the person loading the truck is also responsible??

Chain of responsibility says that once you accept the load you are then responsible for the ability of the vehicle carrying it and the way it is loaded and restrained in most cases.
An important part of the transport industry, however, quite often exploited by employers who use it to pass the buck when **** goes south.

The old, do it like this, until something goes wrong at which point it becomes, why didnt you use your initiative.

I had a situation where i questioned a forkie at our depot about how he loaded some pallets, when i got back after my run i was grilled by the warehouse manager for daring to question her forkies expertise.
A few weeks later he put a pallet of grog on one side of my tray by itself and went on to his next load. I angled it and strapped it but i knew it wouldn't stand up for long as the pressures applied werent equal due to being offset.
Anyway the load fell over, not hard as it was well wrapped but it ended up leaning on the curtain without any breakage.
I repacked it when i got to the drop and all was good but when i got back to the depot i explained what had happened to the manager who went off because apparently i shouldnt have accepted the load as it was put on, i should have had a stack of empty pallets put next to it, which is true, however, i was like, but you said not to question your forkies expertise, doesnt matter she said, COR says your responsible

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Chain of responsibility says that once you accept the load you are then responsible for the ability of the vehicle carrying it and the way it is loaded and restrained in most cases.
An important part of the transport industry, however, quite often exploited by employers who use it to pass the buck when **** goes south.

The old, do it like this, until something goes wrong at which point it becomes, why didnt you use your initiative.

I had a situation where i questioned a forkie at our depot about how he loaded some pallets, when i got back after my run i was grilled by the warehouse manager for daring to question her forkies expertise.
A few weeks later he put a pallet of grog on one side of my tray by itself and went on to his next load. I angled it and strapped it but i knew it wouldn't stand up for long as the pressures applied werent equal due to being offset.
Anyway the load fell over, not hard as it was well wrapped but it ended up leaning on the curtain without any breakage.
I repacked it when i got to the drop and all was good but when i got back to the depot i explained what had happened to the manager who went off because apparently i shouldnt have accepted the load as it was put on, i should have had a stack of empty pallets put next to it, which is true, however, i was like, but you said not to question your forkies expertise, doesnt matter she said, COR says your responsible

‘Her’. Enough said.

[roKWiz]

Yep, 4.5T and over, driver responsible, can't go shifting the blame to anyone else.
Go to court and argue your case otherwise.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Yep, 4.5T and over, driver responsible, can't go shifting the blame to anyone else.
Go to court and argue your case otherwise.

But COR says they are all responsible if the conduct causes injury/death-
Truck driver
Truck owner
Fork lift driver
Fork lift supervisor
Warehouse owner
Etc
Etc
I got out of running a warehouse just after all this crap came in.

We just had a WHS audit, and my current boss puts it this way, as a director, if a staff member is injured/killed on duty, he is deemed guilty until he proves he is innocent.This is why we need to spend a day being tought how to correctly climb a ladder.

[au350hp]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

‘Her’. Enough said.

Really? Did you notice the offender was a male but your suggesting that somebody doing their job is the problem? It's the 'tough guy she'll be right bravo bs' that is responsible for thousands of workplace related deaths every year. To the OP, go to court, explain the importance of your job, that you've been there for 5 years and your driving record. I would be surprised if you got a fine.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by Roostercam

Really? Did you notice the offender was a male but your suggesting that somebody doing their job is the problem? It's the 'tough guy she'll be right bravo bs' that is responsible for thousands of workplace related deaths every year. To the OP, go to court, explain the importance of your job, that you've been there for 5 years and your driving record. I would be surprised if you got a fine.

Did you not read his reply and the events which happened?

I just note that females working in a male dominant industry always have something to prove. And I actually understand it can be difficult for them to be a female supervisor to a majority male workforce.

But what tends to happen is that if they show signs of weakness or being ‘soft’ the men won’t take her serious, so quite often they over compensate.

I work in a 95% male industry myself, and we have a few females in positions of power and they do tend to work harder to establish their leadership.

[Jack91]

Wow. You need to chill out.
Is aunt flow in town?
Jesus..

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Jack91

Wow. You need to chill out.
Is aunt flow in town?
Jesus..

she has a point though. the last 2 sentences that is.

[mike_nofx]

Just need to watch people leaving Bunnings carpark!

I’m guilty of this myself. But how else do you get 6m lengths of timber home from Bunnings without an overhang when all you have is roof racks or a 7 foot trailer haha

[Vesper Martini]

With a clean record you should be able to get a 6 month good behavioral .

just be aware you can get in a whole lot deeper getting caught for anything in that 6 months

[Junkyard-Dog]

I also work in a majority male industry, there is one female supervisor at work and tbh she is great. Having said that, when I worked in a majority female industry, the female supervisors were worse than satan.

[.:4:.]

I personally think the original post has gone kind of askew into a different debate. If somebody does their job then they do their job. If things are all to the rules and you are not complying to the rules then it is what it is. I could rattle off the number of times I have gotten off and the people in enforcement who let it slide but that's not the point.

[au350hp]

I wanted to explain my reasoning for questioning an earlier post. I have no interest in starting arguments or humiliating other members. We all have our code of ethics or values and whilst they differ from person to person, most of us share similar views. To judge another person's attitude or ability on their sex,colour or religion is just wrong. Even if it's a throw away line or something said in jest, it is still wrong and paves the way for others to join in, often without fully understanding what they are supporting. At one end is the cheap comment or sexist remark, at the other is full blown abuse. It is all connected as anybody from Doctors, Police and Psych's will attest to. Before anybody replies to this, just think what sort of society you want for your mother, wife, sister, girlfriend or daughter?

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

In used to work for a dodgy construction company, and you just can't tell some guys.

Driver is responsible, plenty of people used to overload the work trucks thinking they would be safe as the 'boss told them to', I used to tell them that the boss will drop them like a hot potato if something happened. They looked at me like I was the idiot for not doing these jobs.

I refused to overload trucks and the boss stopped sending me to pick up dodgy loads, he used to send other people mostly ethnic with little English skill to pick those loads up.

Lucky you only got stopped and may end up with a fine, imagine the repercussions if something happened and someone got injured or killed, you would be looking a prison time.

Consider it a lesson learned and I guess you now know where your 'Boss' stands, can't trust these 'bosses' as far as you can throw them.

In most companies and organisations you have to look over your shoulder more and cover your back side from those that are supposed to support you.

[danzvtil]

Apologies for further hijacking this thread, but my warehouse team were all male, we introduced some female team members, they had amazing attention to detail, no ego and got on with the job. Suddenly the boys were picking up their game not wanting to be shown up by these new team members, and the place became more professional.Jus sayin’......