Training

Training is the cornerstone of safety in UPS’s global operations. We invest more than US$73 million per year on safety training and nearly 1.7 million hours of safety training for employees. Each year 54 different types of formal UPS safety training courses are taught worldwide.

Operations

In UPS operations, there are two primary safety measurements: lost-time injuries and automotive accident frequency.

Positions in our operations - sorting, loading and delivering packages - involve physical labor. To prevent injuries, we provide comprehensive safety training to employees to equip them with the knowledge, methods and tools necessary to work safely.

Despite our safety initiatives, controls and procedures, there were nine fatal employee automotive accidents globally in 2006. All accidents and injuries require a substantive investigation to identify the root cause. The results of those investigations are used to examine what can be done to prevent accidents in the future.

Over the past five years, we have invested more than US$190 million in safety-related initiatives, including enhanced training programs, new equipment and modifications to facilities. Following is an overview of our primary safety initiatives:

Comprehensive Health and Safety Process (CHSP): The CHSP was developed in 1995 to directly involve front-line employees in improving health and safety methods. There are now more than 2,400 CHSP committees at UPS facilities worldwide. The committees consist of union and non-union employees, supported by non-management and management co-chairs, who together conduct facility and equipment audits, perform job hazard and behavior analysis, conduct injury investigations, conduct training and recommend work process changes.

Between 1996 and 2006, CHSP helped reduce lost workdays due to injuries by 81 percent.

Facility and equipment improvements: Design improvements have been made by UPS engineers to the company’s buildings, vehicles and equipment. Some of these improvements include: the widening of the door in our delivery vehicles; the user-friendly design of hand trucks and handheld computers used by drivers; the layout of new buildings to include “no lift” work areas where packages are pushed or pulled instead of lifted. Some of these ideas came directly from drivers and package handlers through focus group meetings and CHSP committees.

Safe Driving: UPS drivers are among the safest on the road. Our 117,000 drivers worldwide log more than two billion miles a year and average less than one accident per million miles driven. We have certified management trainers who educate drivers on an annual and periodic basis. UPS tractor-trailer drivers receive 80 hours of classroom and on-the-road training before operating equipment. Delivery drivers undergo an intensive six-day training program, including 20 hours of behind-the-wheel and classroom training, plus periodic training rides through their evaluation period. UPS drivers globally receive annual safety training rides and follow-up training in the event of an avoidable accident.

The foundation of our safe driving platform is space and visibility training that focuses on the Five Seeing Habits - proven safe driving methods that focus on avoiding potential accident scenarios versus reacting to them.

 Learn about the UPS safe driving methods

On February 27,2006, UPS driver Marty Peters celebrated his 60th anniversary with UPS. Only two people in UPS history worked 60 years or longer. Jim Casey, the man who founded UPS at the age of 19 in 1907, worked until his death in 1983, and Paul Oberkotter, the company's third CEO, worked 60 years before stepping down.

These programs have helped improve our safety results. Nevertheless, this area remains a significant challenge, and we have established aggressive goals for further reducing accidents and injuries.

Lost-Time Injuries per 200,000 hours

This measurement reflects the injury rate per 200,000 hours on an annual basis.

2007 Goal

To reduce lost-time injury frequency globally to 3.2.

We are pleased to report we have achieved this safety goal a year ahead of target. We reduced the number of lost-time injuries per 200,000 hours by 28 percent in 2006. During the same time, the number of UPS Supply Chain Solutions injuries was reduced by 16 percent, establishing an injury frequency of 0.09 for SCS, which is well below the industry average of 3.3.

Company-wide, the lost-time injury frequency has decreased 67 percent since 2000.

Automotive Accident Frequency per 100,000 driver hours

2007 Goal

Reduce automotive accident frequency worldwide to 15.2 per 100,000 driver hours.

Safety is a way of life at UPS and a critical operational priority. UPS leads the industry in safe driving records. The company's auto accident frequency was reduced 10 percent in 2006.

UPS measures automotive accident frequency per 100,000 driver hours rather than per million miles driven as a KPI. This is because drivers operate in very different conditions from long-haul truckers. We operate in heavily congested commercial and residential areas as well as in remote locations. Normalizing accident frequency per 100,000 hours of driver time more accurately reflects the nature of our operations.

In addition, we report all accidents, not just those deemed reportable by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In 2006, the focus on workforce health and safety continued through the implementation of the following initiatives:

• Safety Zones Provides an appropriate environment for safety training and safety awareness.
• The Employee Relations Index (ERI) annually identifies and gauges the satisfaction of our people. The Health & Safety Factor Index (HSFI) extracts nine questions from the ERI to measure the employee perception of safety within the UPS work environment. In 2006, the HSFI overall rating was 81 percent.
• District Safety Council: District managers serve as chair of the District Safety Council meeting and include participation from staff managers from districts.
• Health & Safety 101: Workshop for CHSP management and non-management co-chairs focused on continued education of health and safety methods.

Ongoing programs:

• Global implementation of rear vision cameras
• Reinforcement and implementation of CHSP in our global operations
• Training on proper work methods
• Implementation of behavior-based safety training
• Automation of package sorting facilities

 Back to Top