New badge of honor celebrates workplace safety at UPS

It takes years of safe cutting, welding and cleaning to earn special recognition
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At UPS, we’re serious about safety. This year we’re welcoming more than 1,600 building mechanics and porters from around the world into the inaugural class of Safe Work Heroes. These UPSers have all worked at least five years injury-free and now proudly wear a patch showing off that honor. 

The new program specifically recognizes professionals from Buildings & Systems Engineering (BaSE) – the global team behind the scenes that keeps more than 60 million square feet of UPS facilities in tip-top shape.

Working around heavy machines and powerful tools means safety is vital. That’s why in the U.S. alone, we invest more than $260 million and operations employees participate in five million hours of safety training per year.

Watch the video to see how these UPSers earned their distinction.

Bob Olson joined UPS in 1972, and can often be heard reminding his partners, “don’t rush … do it as fast as you can, as safely as you can.” Over those 50 years, he’s had three daughters and a granddaughter.

Off the job, he’s passionate about ancestry and belongs to the South Suburban Genealogical & Historical Society of Illinois.

 

When he’s not cracking jokes, Bernard Horbrook uses his position as Local 701 lead shop steward to be a safety role model. Outside of UPS, Bernard oversees 33 youth programs for different churches in the Chicagoland area, starting up trade programs for at-risk and urban communities with the help of volunteer tradesmen and tradeswomen.

He loves spending time with his children and grandchildren, and he keeps up the best lawn in his neighborhood.

Join a winning team:

  • UPS is now hiring more than 100,000 seasonal workers for the holidays. Following last year’s holiday season, nearly 35,000 seasonal employees – more than a third – earned permanent positions with UPS.
  • The average pay for a UPS delivery driver is $95,000, or $112,000 for tractor-trailer drivers. Add in another $50,000 in health, welfare and pension contributions. After four years, drivers make an average of $42 per hour.

Learn more and start your UPS journey here.

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