What to expect when you're expecting…a crash
October 2, 2023
Roamin' With Rick is an ongoing travel series that covers industry news, people and insights from around the trucking world as he travels to industry events across North America. In this installment, Rick visited the Fleet Safety Council in Ontario for a comprehensive (and sometimes surprising) 3-day masterclass on getting your carrier response-ready for a crash event.
Rick Duchalski is a Communications Specialist with CarriersEdge.
At a recent three-day session of the Fleet Safety Council in Ontario, Risk Solutions Specialist John Farquhar of Summit Risk Solutions and Management Consultant Rick Morgan of Links Consulting hosted an in-depth discussion of what happens when one of your trucks has a crash event—who will be involved, what you should expect as a carrier and what you can do to prepare.
The first thing that sets people on edge is the number of players involved. The police? Sure. But we also need to remember that it will include governmental departments for the environment and labor, insurance stakeholders, lawyers, paralegals, the media, bystanders, local authorities, residents and more. Now consider two things: the first is that your driver will have to deal with any number of these folks right in the middle of having the worst day of their career (and probably while being in shock); the second is that the next thing these stakeholders are going to do is call you. Will you know what to say and what resources to mobilize?
Take care of your drivers
When asked what they do when a driver has a crash event, carriers often answer something like “Our policy is to haul them in and find out what they did wrong, then we look at remedial training or possibly some kind of punishment.” Fewer respond with things like “We find out if the driver's okay.”
The fact is that both of those responses lack a key insight that Farquhar and Morgan were trying to drive home: that your driver is going to need a lot of support in the immediate aftermath of the event in terms of their rights, responsibilities and needs:
- The police are going to talk to them, and your driver needs to know their rights (including what they should and should not be saying)
- Their cellphone will probably be confiscated right away as evidence—the vast amount of information that can be gotten from the forensic data analysis of a phone has made cellphone confiscation an almost standard practice
- Were they carrying hazmat? First responders will be asking them for details in order to manage the situation
- Your driver will probably want to contact their family (which will be difficult when their phone has been taken)
From policy to plan
But the driver isn't the only one who is going to need to be on their toes. When the police, government officials and insurance partners call you, your team is going to need to know what they are doing. And the press? They're going to write a story about you, whether you speak to them or not. Know what you want to say to them when they call so you at least have some input in how you are portrayed in the media.
All of this requires more than just having a broad-strokes policy; it requires serious thinking about who is going to play what role on your team, what their responsibilities will be and how you want to control the situation. It requires a plan.
At one point during the session, Morgan asked the group of 70 or so audience members how many of them had such a plan at their company—less than 10 did. And yet all of them agreed that building one made absolute sense (especially the insurers in the room). So how do you do it? Here are 5 elements Farquhar and Morgan recommended you keep in mind when building your crash response plan:
- Have a serious event team at your company
More than a vague acknowledgement that managing the crisis should be the responsibility of 'management', have a dedicated set of people with specific responsibilities. For example, driver outreach—there should be one person who will be the driver's first point of contact when they need help, and this person should be responsible for checking on the driver's welfare, notifying loved ones, and generally walking them through the process. Don't bounce the driver around by telling them to call this person for one issue and that person for another. They've been through enough, so make it easy for them. Another team member should be responsible for contacting insurance and legal stakeholders, as well as a point person for talking to the media. And while smaller fleets may only have one or two leaders in the company available for these roles, it's still critical that you have a clear understanding of who is doing what.
- Don't leave your driver to figure it out themselves
Given the enormous stress they are going to be under, even well-prepared drivers are going to have a tough time remembering everything they need to do if they are in a crash (and that is assuming they aren't injured). So, make sure they have simple, easy-to-follow protocols and just one number to call to get through to the serious event team at your company. What's more, know how you are going to get a replacement phone to your driver if (or when) theirs is confiscated for evidence.
- Know what to say and what will be said
Journalists, both professional and amateur will do whatever they can to find out about the situation and the people involved—and they will construct a story out of whatever they find. You can decide whether you want to give them information or not, but just know that they are going to write one either way. Make sure you know ahead of time what you want said, who is going to say it, and how (phone interview, email, etc.). Have that information scripted and available so the message you want to send is consistent. This also goes for passing information on to the rest of the company. Rather than letting rumors fly, make sure you are the one controlling the information flow to your team.
- Practice
Table talk your plan as if you were actually in the situation and you just got the call from a driver. Have the team leader clarify roles, troubleshoot communication and generally get people used to stepping into these roles when needed. Even better, run a drill. Have a driver work with you to put in a call as if they have had a crash event, but lead the rest of your crash team to believe that it is a real event. Afterwards, you'll be able to talk them through what went well and what didn't and give them a taste of the kind of stress they will be under when it actually happens.
- Use your insurance partners
If you're stuck on figuring out what else your plan should have, reach out to your insurer for guidance. Not only do they have experience, but they'll also be invested in making sure your plan is comprehensive (and they'll be thankful you're doing it in the first place).
Remember that a serious event for a fleet is a 'when' rather than an 'if'; getting prepared for it to keep your people and company in control just makes sense.
Learn more about Summit Risk Solutions, and contact John Farquhar.
Learn more about Links Consulting and contact Rick Morgan.
Learn more about how to get involved with the Fleet Safety Council.