The MD11 safety record is woeful by any standard, even if you don't like that particular description.
And here's a thought, I have no doubt Boeing planned and engineered the capability into the 787 for a future freight version when someone decides to do it.
They're not exactly neophytes at this, every 7 series so far has had a freight conversion, no reason the 787 would be excluded from this capability regardless of it's composite construction.