Louisville Switching Blog

Ottawa terminal trucks have some great features that are a huge hit with our customers. The Ottawas have bright yellow platforms to designate safe stepping areas and will undoubtedly cut down on injuries. Two of the top injuries in trailer yards are caused from cranking legs up and down on the trailers and climbing in and out of the cab. Drivers who are missing out on the hydraulic lifting capability of a switcher have to manually lower and raise the legs on each trailer by hand. Using a switcher quickly removes six steps out of the old process.

1. Getting down on the ground
2. Cranking the legs up
3. Climbing back up in the truck
4. Getting down on the ground
5. Cranking the legs back down
6. Climbing back up in the truck

Think of the toll you are eliminating from your drivers. That much climbing in and out of cabs and cranking legs will wear you down and eventually result in more injuries. The brightly-painted steps on Ottawa Switchers makes it easier for drivers to clearly see where you can step, and where you can’t. This is a simple solution to a common injury that occurs from mis-stepping. On top of being a good steward of your human resources, fewer injuries will affect insurance premiums and should result in lower costs due to fewer worker’s compensation claims.

On a recent demo for a customer, a manager in the human resources department saw us from their office window and rushed out to greet us. They recognized immediately the advantages of the Ottawa as an injury reducer for the drivers. Not only are there brightly-painted platforms and steps, but also strategically-place hand rails that are brightly colored to stand out against the white color of the cab. If the 3 to 1 time efficiency of Switchers to semi-trucks was not incentive enough, the added features on Ottawa Switchers to reduce injury should be high on the list of reasons to go with Louisville Switching.