"What About The Driver ?"
I spent most of my nights here trying to get to the bottom of the spillage of the chemicals we shipped a couple of days ago. The materials were in a trailer en route to Missouri but had an accident with a tractor earlier today. There were 2 types of hazardous chemicals there that if mixed together can be deadly so several emergency services , military team and enviromental group were there among with the responders. I arranged and approved the shipment so I'm mainly responsible. After all the lengthy phone calls and endless emails I received a 7 pages incident report but nowhere it mentioned about the driver. I'm kinda big hearted, I'm more concerned about the driver and people who might be hurt than those chemicals
He's not our driver, the carrier I hired subcontracted the shipment. I called all trucking companies involved to get more info, their answer was that they don't have more info for me because they haven't heard from the driver yet. The poor man is more likely in the hospital and couldn't call them.Everyone was busy trying to find out what happened and who's paying what but none of the parties even mentioned what happened to the driver. It's all about the money, in a world of money, sadly, one's life does not matter much anymore.
Cold dark rainy night here and I'm not in the mood for s*xual blogs
Comments (40)
Hopefully all is okay with him.
If it normal to ship chemicals together like that if they can have such a reaction when mixed?
"Especially If Its Haz Mat...(Hazardous Materials)
"If There Was An Explosion... Or Fire..... Or Whatever?"
"Chances Are..(If The Driver Wasnt Rendered Unconcious)
"That He/She Is Okay"
"I Do Know That Whatever Route This Accident Was On?"
"There Will Be Hours To Pass..... Before Its All Cleared Up"
Where Did It Happen ...And On What Route?.........................
That's about to change our labels. It's normal to shop hazardous chemicals as long as they are properly labelled, documented and certified. We didn't break the rules but today's incident just made us put a new rule not to put those 2 chemicals together, that would be a hassle and extra cost but in the world of hazardous chemicals, safety comes first
Overseas container shipment???
HL
accident happened in Hazalgreen, MO. Destination of the chemicals is to Nogales, AZ.
one of the responder called the driver's company just to let them know what happened, they didn't get much info from the driver, he was not able to call his company so he could be hurt. I will know more tomorrow
for all our hazmat, only certified drivers can pick them up.
Yes, it took a while clear the road, emergency teams were there to remediate. I don't have the specific details, except that there was a tractor-trailer accident and chemical spillage. The report I have from infotrac is more about time and brief description of events, including lots of unanswered calls to different parties. I made phone calls to get details but will have to wait till tomorrow.. Then there will be claims to file, shipping of replacement materials, etc, it's kind stressful...plus unhappy customers who's production line will shutdown
those are hazardous chems, are in a 55 gal drum containers, they're palletized, they were picked up from IL and going to AZ. I just find it a little hard to imagine a tractor-trailer accident...maybe bad weather was partly to blame ?
"As Their 14 Hour Clock Keeps On Ticking"............
Icy Roads
4 Wheeler Idiots
"These Are The 3 Most Common Problems"
Others?.....(For trucks and 4 Wheelers0
Texting While Driving
Not Paying Attention
Falling Asleep At The Wheel
And On And On And On"....................
yes, I feel them. I deal with a lot of shipping and trucking companies, big and small and familiar with many shipping issues...and drivers are generally put to blame when things fall apart
I hope everythings going well for you there...
That's why it's important that they should be well and focused when they are carrying hazmat .
a tractor-trailer accident ? How could that happen ? They must be both speeding or texting
I-44, that's what they wrote on the report. Have no idea what that place looks like but report says, spillage on asphalt road but have yet to determine if there are sewer and bodies of water involved.
didn't know that...where did you get the info?
An Occupant Of The Car (4Wheeler was Killed)
If This Is The San=me accident?
Thye driver Is Most Definetely Under Arrest For at Least The Charge of Man Slaughter...If Its determined Its His Fault
Thats Probably Why No Ones Heard From Him
I Repeat..If This is The Same accident
This acident Happened Yesterday....................
Let´s begin....
I was informed of the accident happened today, I got the first call from Infotrac, the report they sent me was mainly chain of events from their side so the date could be wrong. Im just surprise that the company of the driver don't have much info on what happened. I was on the phone with them for a long time, talked to their safety manager too but she told me, they sent their team to investigate and no solid info yet.
Yes, I think that's the one. I really hope, the driver is OK
Funny how I can get more info here on the blogs than from the parties involved
That's definitely the one, The Fort Leonard Wood Hazmat Team did request for info of the chemicals and their safety data sheets
"And Then Youll Know"....................
I do have lots of respect for truck drivers specially when they're on the road , they help keep the business going and life easier by transporting our goods and foods from one place to another....
trucks carrying hazmat usually have a safety distance clearly visible to other vehicle.
We used a broker when we shipped those chemicals, our customer chose the cheapest option with longer transit days because they can wait for the materials, we picked a carrier and for some reason the carrier subcontracted the shipment to another carrier so it got complicated. I approved it because it's less cost for the customer who opted for cheapest shipping method. I usually recommend carriers that we have worked for long time now and we usually ship bigger shipments that this one, usually a full truckload or half a truckload . I've learned that accidents and delays could actually happen no matter which carrier, specially when bad weather is involved
That happened to me in Turkey
My last trip there was also silly. I arrived at the gate and found an airport personnel there. I asked him if I'm at the right gate, he told me I missed the plane. I was confused because I arrived there more than an hour before my boarding time. The next guy I asked was also a passenger, he was not helpful at all. I sat there feeling lost, worst part, I couldn't connect to the airport wi-fi so I found it hard to contact anyone. Was sitting there mopping when suddenly the area was filled with loud passengers and felt relieved when I heard some saying they're going to Amman too and I didn't missed the plane
Our broker is OK, I'm just not sure how they deal with the truckers, I know they can get very low rates and it works for some of our customers in far areas and want to cut on shipping cost.
We have accounts and discounts from different shipping and trucking companies like RL, USF Redd, Holland, SAIA, YRC, Estes, UPS, Fedex and many others but for some strange reason, brokers' rate could sometimes be a lot lower, don't know why that is
yes, those chemical are brutal. I don't know what happened to the driver, I hope he's OK. I will know more tomorrow. Claims need to be filed, I notified customers and would need to send replacements and the incident just changed some rules...I've learned some lessons today which is not bad.
I am sorry for the tragedy. The frustration to find out information can mount quickly.
Based on my own experience when my dad died on a loading dock, only certain authorities are allowed to release information regarding a death. I was driving to a school competition when my dad's boss answered his phone and told me that my dad was "no longer with them." I was left with the impression he had been fired, until the detective called with the tragic news.
News of a death is different than information about a delayed flight. The shock would be magnified if the family found out about the death over the news... Protocol must be followed.
Sadly, no information probably means the worst has happened.
My heart goes out to the family of the driver.
For example:
Chlorine can not be shipped along with any fossil fuel or oil
Doesn't your company have a 'Prohibitive Chemical Transport chart' that you can use when ordering your chemicals?......
.....
the information given to me was very misleading, said the trailer carrying our chemicals hit a tractor, the next day, I was told, it's the icy road that caused the accident. So much headache and hassle last Thursday and Friday. Couldn't get all the right info since last week as to what really happened but managed to shipped out replacement materials.
This morning we were discussing about putting those drums of chemicals, whatever left of it in over-pack drums for disposal or to return to our plant in CO then we got informed that those spilled chemical might not be ours! So much confusion ,so I requested to send us photos and I'm still waiting... don't know where things stand at the moment
Chemistry were manufactured in CO, transferred to IL, shipped from IL , destination was AZ, accident happened in Missouri, I'm lost here!
I hired a broker, he gave me different carriers to chose from, I picked one, the one I picked subcontracted the shipment...no wonder it's difficult to find out what really happened...
I'm sorry about your tragic experience, tragic events like that create a void in our life that can never be filled.
yes, it's very difficult and protocol must be followed, reason why it's difficult for us to get to the bottom of things.
When I got the first call, according to protocol, they must talk this specific person ( who's no longer in our company), then call after calls , trying to follow protocol and most of those calls according to the report I received were unanswered calls, left messages , or numbers that are no longer in use.
They can not give out all the info and what little info given to me was not helpful at all, mostly misleading
We sometimes had this "contractor subcontracting" issue here too. It's not making things any better.
We are now looking into separation of some chemicals but this will be something costly. We ship our chemicals by land , air and sea and across the border. We do provide all the necessary documentations including IMO and HazDec for sea and air shipment, national or international.
We use different shipping and trucking companies, provide all documentations but in business, profit often times dictates how we ship the materials and we tend to overlook some rules and regulations that could cost us extra money.
We shipped (SODIUM HYDROSULFIDE, SODIUM ALUMINATE) and (Ferrous chloride, Hydrochloric acid) but did have them properly labelled and documented so in this incident we were covered.
We were told today that those spilled chemicals that emitted very bad gas were possibly not ours and that our containers were intact, I will know for sure in the coming days. the lack of information is so frustrating, one tend to think the worst scenario
I don't mind having them subcontracted as long as materials are delivered safely and on time. They also help cut on shipping cost. Accidents could happen anywhere, anytime or with any carriers. If not accidents, materials could get punctured, damaged...often times lost or stolen