Swing reach truck safety question
I started a warehouse job a little over two years ago, I was trained on the swing reach truck when I started but I don't use it very often. I maybe have operated it six or seven times and don't remember much from my training.
Six months ago, a position was created because the director of operations wanted to hire a friend of his. I was not aware his position would be my manager, even though I am the inventory guy and my department is just me as it is a small building. The GM of the warehouse was my direct boss, but now I report to the new person. I only mention his position because since he is above me, I don't know if I am allowed to really say anything to him about his operation of the swing reach truck, and honestly, I don't want it to make it up the chain the the director to get upset with me. The director also started after me (about a year into my employment) and he is VERY fire happy. His way to do this is to give people he doesn't want an "performance improvement plan" but makes all the goals near impossible to achieve, then he goes to HR and shows them the results and fires them. He has done this to several people since he started, so as embarrassed as I am to say it, I am scared of what he might do if I complain about his friend.
Anyway, on with the safety part of my post. My manager was trained and ever since then, he uses the swing reach truck constantly and I just feel like he is being unsafe, but since this is my first warehouse gig, I don't want to assume. Maybe what I am thinking is unsafe is actually common practice and I am just being a bitch, I don't know. I'll just list out the things he does.
- He honks as he is coming up to a corner but doesn't slow down at all, he honks maybe two seconds before the corner then flies through it.
- One thing I remember from my training is to keep the truck on the guide wire as much as possible. The manager drives all over the warehouse, I'd say 50% on the wire 50% off. And when he is off the wire I feel like it is unnecessary. For example, if he has an empty pallet on the forks, instead of staying on the wire, putting the pallet down then carrying it to where we keep them, he will come off the wire, drive over to the stack, spin the forks around, place the pallet on a stack, then have to do a multiple point turn in order to turn around and drive back to where he just was to get back on the wire. This kind of goes with the next point, but to get where the pallets are you have to drive through the main walkway of the warehouse. It takes way more time to do this than to just pick it up and carry it over.
- When he is off the wire, he is driving through main walkways and regularly gets within four or five feet of other people's desks, work stations, the pickers, me, etc.
- He doesn't strap in at all, he just puts his arms through the harness but doesn't clasp it over his chest or use the buckles under his legs. He says it is because he is too fat. His words, not mine.
- If something is in his way like a cart or rolling desk, he doesn't get off and move it then get back on. He will just slow the truck down and push it with the truck until it is out of the way.
- When he is up in the air with a pallet, sometimes he will swing it around in the air which I thought if that needs to happen, you are supposed to bring it down close to the floor first. This makes me especially nervous when he is up at the highest shelf. Plus, when he wraps a pallet to go up, he will just do one or two passes with the wrap. He also doesn't wrap the pallet to the product, so it is not uncommon to see the product on the pallet slide around.
To me, these seem like safety issues but with it being my first warehouse job, I don't know if it is just normal or not. Any input on this would be appreciated.