Safe Work Requires a Safe Environment

摘要

AT A WEST COAST intermodal facility, long trains were made up to carry goods to the interior states, ultimately for distribution to consumers. In this yard, (semi) trailers were brought in by over-the-road tractors to a drop-off area. Each trailer was then picked up by a spotting (yard) tractor and moved to a marshalling area. With so many trailers coming into the drop-off area, the yard tractors were kept operating at a rapid pace. To keep up, a yard employee was pressed into temporary service as a spotter at the drop-off area to assist in guiding yard tractor drivers. The yard tractors were built especially for moving, or spotting, trailers within the yard. To engage a trailer, a "fifth wheel," typically slathered with grease, was located over the yard tractor's rear drive wheels. The fifth wheel is a flat plate with a central notch and a locking device that engages a heavy, vertical "king" pin at the bottom front of each trailer. To facilitate fast loading and unloading, the fifth wheel was raised and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder and linkage. This eliminated the need to crank up each trailer's landing gear (the small wheels under the front of the trailer) when moving, and cranking the landing gear down when parking.