Driver reports facility to OSHA after 13 hour wait outside of shipper

A truck driver says he reported a shipper to OSHA after a 13 hour wait outside of their facility during a recent run.

Truck driver Herschel Young says that he arrived at Graphic Packaging International facility on Bagby Avenue in Waco, Texas at 9:16 a.m., but wasn’t able to leave until 10:30 p.m. that evening. 

“You know, that is part of the job sometimes is waiting, but it was so many trucks,” he said, stating that there was an entire line of trucks just waiting to get into the facility. 

“I ran about 85 miles, that’s including leaving here and going to find somewhere to sleep. Normally I can run 650 miles a day. So it’s just an absolute day loss,” Young continued to KCENTV.

Young says he filed a report to OSHA report citing the lack of bathroom access during the long wait. Young also says the long wait costs him hundreds in lost mileage and an opportunity to pick up another load. 

“You [couldn’t] get a rest, you have to keep moving every few minutes,” he added. 

Victor Francois, another truck driver at the facility, said he only had to wait 45 minutes, but claims he saw another driver wait three hours. While not as excessive as 13, three hours is still a long time to wait at a shipper, he said. 

“If they know that they’re going to be backed up, I don’t see why they can’t open up more docks,” he said. 

Yet another driver who has worked at the facility several times says that she doesn’t believe the driver’s claims that he waited 13 hours. 

“Two or three I can see. 13 hours? I think somebody’s probably pulling your leg,” truck driver Carol Baker-Cline said. “This is fairly new, so they’re still young and getting used to things… You have to scale in and scale out, and with them having just one scale, I can see a wait time.”

“They really worked with me well the other day when I come in, and so they’re just as nice as they can be,” she added. 

OSHA and Graphic Packaging International did not respond to requests for comments.