Nod, Nod, Nudge, Wink, Wink. How's that Working Out?

By David W. Guess, MS, CDS

Director of Safety, Usher Transport, Inc.

Chairman, NATMI Advisory Board

This month I thought I'd take it down several notches and address one of the simpler, if not most common, forms of safety management specific to undesirable carriers.  Rather, "undesirable" safety programs in an organization are what we're really talking about.  The first question to address of course is what defines "undesirable?"  I think at the level of competence the readers of this column possess, there's really no need in explaining complex algorithms, methodologies, or metrics involved in assigning such an infamous title of being "bad." 

  

So with that in mind, let's just say for simplicity sake that the "undesirable" carrier is the one where we raise our eyebrows after reviewing their numbers and then draw the conclusion that it's a place we most likely will not be sending a resume to.  That is, unless we're up to the challenge of being the safety professional that enjoys being at the head of carrier turn-around success stories. 

  

Now personally, I prefer the low-risk side of career advancement.  Perhaps twenty or more years back I may have been more receptive to high-risk career positions, but with age comes wisdom and at some point retirement in a secured position.  I do not believe I would enjoy my job as much if I suddenly found myself at 60+ year's old working to ensure my company's mere survival as they teeter on some disastrous cliff's edge of bad safety and noncompliance. 

  

With that thought in mind, how then do such carriers fall into the abyss of what we know as exceeding threshold values, percentages above national averages, and even in some situations, being introduced to the "spot market" in insurance coverage?  We know the answers to those questions.  In fact, we probably know those answers quicker than those required to ensure a successful safety program.  Just over a year ago while attending a National Tank Truck Carriers conference in Austin, Texas, there was some impromptu discussion concerning nothing more than the very basics of carrier safety management.  While many times at the conference level, we find ourselves discussing the latest and greatest programs, innovations in technology, etc.

  

What we don't find much of is what I've often referred to in many of these columns as Safety 101.  In reference to a conversation regarding the driver shortage and hiring policies, this statement surfaced in the form of a question:  "We all have certain guidelines and policies on who we'll hire, but does anyone really follow those 100% of the time?  I mean, sometimes when you need drivers bad enough, there are certain things that a nod of approval from the owner or senior management is all we really need to go ahead and fill that seat." 

Yes, that was a very real statement nearly word-for-word from someone with a safety title.  Notice I said someone with a "title" as opposed to a real safety director.  Naturally, the comment was received with much nonverbal communication in the room.  Several eyebrows raises, a couple of strange looks across the aisle, and not really anyone willing to speak up in agreement.  Why not?  To borrow a hip-hop cliché, it's simply "Not how we roll" in the tank truck industry. 

  

In closing, I'll share the end result of that Austin conversationas it played out several months later in a Kentucky Board Room.  A similar comment was brought up but this time a statement was made regarding increasing accidents with liability involved, numbers creeping beyond control, and just a plethora of seemingly little things creeping around the back door of a particular motor carrier.

  

Someone that had heard the original Austin conversation made this comment:  "Nod, nod, nudge, wink, wink, how's that policy working out for you?"  To say it was a priceless moment is the understatement of the century. 

  

Lastly, do we follow every policy to the letter 100%?  The real question is "should we," which we can comfortably answer, yes.  However, the read between the lines answer is a little fuzzy sometimes.  Regardless of your take on that, I think we can all collectively agree 100% on the notion that the "Nod, nod, nudge, wink" policy amendments are as destructive to motor carriers as termites are to the framework and foundation of our homes.  What termites might you have hidden in the walls of your safety program today?  By the time an organization finds a hole in the system created from a seemingly harmless "wink," the damage is done, and the precedent is set. 

Each of us can spend a career span building a successful safety program only to lose it in a single day making poor, hurried, without thought, decisions.  Remember, "Hero to Zero" in less than 24 hours.  Our colleague from Maverick Transportation, Mr. Dean Newell, coined that phrase a little over a year ago during one of our Safety Management Council meetings at the ATA; it has stuck with me like glue.