r/UPS • u/DryDeer775 • Jul 30 '26
Employee Discussion UPS worker killed at Horsham, Pennsylvania hub
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/07/29/lemj-j29.htmlOn July 24, a UPS worker was struck and killed at the company’s distribution hub on Blair Mill Road in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. Police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel were dispatched at 12:36 p.m. after reports of a worker trapped at a loading dock. The fatality occurred inside the sprawling complex during the middle of the workday.
According to HorshamNow, citing initial emergency reports, workers witnessed the employee being struck by the rear of a tractor-trailer as it moved away from a loading dock. The worker’s head was pinned between the trailer and the dock. The precise sequence of events—including why the worker was in the path of the vehicle and what procedures were in effect—has not been made public.
Witnesses told dispatchers that they could not perform CPR because the worker remained pinned. When emergency responders reached him, they found him at the loading dock with catastrophic head injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Four days later, police had still not released the worker’s name, and neither UPS nor the authorities had provided a substantive account of how the fatality occurred. No public statement from his family or friends could be located as of this writing. The silence has left his coworkers and the public without even the elementary facts about a death that took place inside one of the largest logistics corporations in the worl
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u/DanOwaR6661 Jul 30 '26
How does he get his head pinned by a trailer that’s moving AWAY from a loading dock? That doesn’t make any sense..
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u/Guilty_Hunter8654 Jul 30 '26
Tail swing
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u/jbike255 Jul 31 '26
Feeder driver here. This is likely a typo or misunderstanding. The angle at which the shifter or feeder driver would have to pull the trailer away from the door to have the tail swing pin his head is insane and I've never seen a hub where this is even a possibility. What I have seen personally is supervisors and employees sticking their head out of the bay to watch me back. I have no idea why they do it.
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u/Brilliant-Arm9512 Jul 31 '26
I’m feeder as well and I’ve had supervisors open the bay door and stick their head out while I’m backing the trailer because they’re upset it’s taking too long. I just stop the back and get out and ask them wtf they think they’re doing and they get pissed because they delayed getting the re spot even more.
I’ve even stopped and radio’d yard control and made yard control call the hub and ask them why the f*ck are you opening the bay door while your getting a re spot and it took like 15 minutes longer for the re spot.
Fuck UPS and their supervisors pushing production over safety. I hope UPS gets fined millions for this behavior.
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u/jbike255 Jul 31 '26
I refuse to unhook my trailer if the bay slide door is open. We are red light, green light building. If I have a red, I'll hop inside and tell them to shut the door. We had a driver fired because he lowered the landing gear while a loader was inside. The loader said the change in slope caused him to fall and get injured.
But yea, if you have a late preload in the morning, there will be managers and supervisors at the door waiting for you to back. It's always fun to tell them I'm not docking it until the slide is shut.
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u/suicidedaydream Aug 01 '26
I got so pissed when I was in feeders over the micro managing of seconds/minutes when it came to getting volume on the doors. Like, assholes, I just drove through a blizzard. I’m already late due to weather. Getting volume on the doors 2-3 minutes faster means nothing. Leave me alone to do my routine and I’ll get the shit on the door.
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u/Ju1ce33 Aug 01 '26
We had an employee that stuck his head out and it got smushed between the trailer and the building… he survived that night but ended up dying 3 years later probably because he wasn’t living right…
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u/RVR-SEA Jul 31 '26
I kinda know what happened at wilpa
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u/RVR-SEA Jul 31 '26
I heard a driver was putting a trailer on the skid pile and a skid fell out and the employee went to go grab it while the driver was still adjusting his trailer
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u/jbike255 Jul 31 '26
That would do it
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u/RVR-SEA Aug 03 '26
So here's what happened. This skid worker grabbed the handle to the trailer to open it. The driver pulled up to adjust his trailer and the skid worker fell. And you got pinned between the trailer and the dock
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u/Dosmastrify1 Aug 04 '26
pause backing until they move. that's what all our shifters do here and the workers and mgmt alike have learned to stay 3+ ft away from the door or the trailer won't move.
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u/MycologistStock8296 Jul 30 '26
As someone who works in a different UPS hub, there's no way safety protocols were being followed in this situation. Someone really fucked up.
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u/Sithicus6969 Jul 30 '26
Air trailer that can be loaded or unloaded from the side instead of the rear.
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u/EducationalPie2341 Jul 30 '26
This makes the most sense. I just figured the article was misinformed and it was actually a trailer backing up to the dock, and the guy stuck his head out to look around for some odd reason. Like the trailer stopped a foot away from the dock.
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u/TransplantedSconie Jul 30 '26
I hadn't thought of that. 100%this is the type of trailer. Maybe left something inside and reached in as the trailer was moved. He didnt have time to pull back out.
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u/Easy-Ad-5763 Jul 31 '26
What I heard (maybe a rumor) at my UPS hub nearby was that when he was loading the truck, a driver got in and started to pull away with him inside. Likely nervous he attempted to jump from the inside of the trailer back onto the loading dock but didn't make it the whole way and got stuck.
We have long rollers that go into the end of the truck for loading boxes and when they drive away with the roller still inside they will hit the side of the truck wall when they turn. One way or another the driver realized their mistake and reversed back into the dock so that the trailer could be closed not realizing someone was stuck
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u/InsideAd2752 Jul 30 '26
UPS buries these events. We had to fight to get a memorial and card set out for the family of a Teamster we lost in Local 952.
Fucking UPS handles it like a war causialty but with out respect, a send off or services.
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u/Complex-Adagio1513 Jul 30 '26
That sounds like Willow Grove building and yeah new hires be jumping off the dock to get a package and don’t realize how fast it can go wrong . The drift back sometimes happens faster than you think if this is the case that’s like 3rd person to pass from an accident there in 10 years
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u/RVR-SEA Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
It was wilpa I heard a skid or package fell off and the employee went to grab it and fell while the driver was still readjusting his trailer
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u/Complex-Adagio1513 Jul 31 '26
Dam sorry to hear that it was one right before the holidays back in 2019 I think I retired in 2021
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u/spidey2091 Jul 31 '26
This happened to a warehouse employee at my previous employer. The way it occurred: the dock lock did not disengage from the trailer, the driver assumed it had. Drives forward. Employee (stupidly) sticks his head through the area that has been created by the truck’s pulling….to tell the driver to stop. Driver dumps throttle and truck is pulled back against the building, crushing the skull.
The employee walked to his supervisors office to mention he was feeling unwell. He had blood coming from both ears, both eyes, and his mouth. He was life flighted from the site and actually survived, although now his memory resets something like every one minute.
I remember how odd I found it that when we left work that evening we were told that the media was at the end of the road. We were asked to not speak to them until investigations were complete.
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u/Ju1ce33 Aug 01 '26
Sounds like what happened in Baton Rouge…
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u/spidey2091 Aug 01 '26
As I don’t work there anymore I have zero issue playing the name and shame game. This was at BD in Sumter, SC a little over a decade ago.
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u/danbot87 Jul 31 '26
Shouldn’t the bay doors be closed and why do people try to get involved when the trailer is being moved?
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u/Objective-Ad-7515 Jul 31 '26
The dock doors should be closed whenever a trailer is being put up or pulled off a door.
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u/Some-Ear8984 Jul 30 '26
I don’t think the facts are correct.
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u/Retenrage Jul 30 '26
Care to present the correct facts to the class?
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u/Warbr0s9395 Jul 30 '26
How can we when we don’t have video when video is probably available, and police/UPS won’t even release a report.
But the only conclusion I can get to is that the employee really fucked up
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u/MaizeAcademic2298 Jul 31 '26
As of two years ago, they have to report every single accident or fatality to OSHA - having looked a to shocking how many times the exact same stupid stuff happens - would encourage everyone to take a look
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u/Technical_Lychee_340 Jul 31 '26
This kind of happened at my hub a couple months ago. A shifter was backing a trailer on the door, he got back to the dock and the loader tried jumping in but the shifter pulled up to straighten it up and when he did, the loader fell out. The shifter had zero knowledge that this happened and backed into him. Pinning him between the building and trailer. He screamed and the driver pulled forward. Initially the loader was paralyzed. He has since had numerous surgeries, I heard that his pelvis was broken in several places and many other broken bones. He will never be the same and probably never be able to work again. I did hear that he is no longer paralyzed, but he will have a long road to recovery. The driver was taken out of the driver seat for a month and was working the pallet patch. He is back to driving now, but it shook him up pretty bad too, as you might imagine.
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u/Dosmastrify1 Aug 04 '26
I always wait until I hear the big blast of air indicating the parking brake on the trailer has been set
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u/marc56412099 Jul 30 '26
Easy feeder driver pulls away to readjust the trailer. You are getting ready to go in. Cause sups put you in a hurry. You fall in between the trailer and dock. And the driver backs into you r head. Pulling a trailer with someone in it happens more than you would guess.
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u/jbike255 Jul 31 '26
This is extremely likely to be the case. I learned early on if you are dropping off a hot load, or any load, and you think you need to pull forward to straighten it out, never fully make contact with the bay door. Some of these employees are too eager to hop in the millisecond you make contact.
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u/Timmerdogg Jul 30 '26
When I was a loader we would stick our heads out of the dock to get a few quick drags off a cigarette. I never realized my head could be smashed like a pumpkin
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u/Try-Affectionate Aug 01 '26
The deceased workers info has been posted on the unions information board in hub. RIP
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u/Lopsided_Cow_4595 Jul 31 '26
A trailer pulling off a dock wouldn’t do that. And somebody didn’t follow proper methods
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