Ron Capehart, an attorney at The Bassett Firm, spoke to a room full of safety directors at trucking companies at one of our Boot Camp events.  They’d come to learn more about how online training can help them in multiple ways.  Ron’s presentation focused on how to prepare a trucking company before, during, and after a catastrophic event.

Here are some of the headlines jotted down throughout the room as he was talking:

1. The Nine Things to Gather at the Scene of an Accident

2. The 5 Things to Remember About Trucking Litigation

3. How to Avoid the “F-Word” in Trucking Litigation

4. Why the Safety Manual is an Oversized Paperweight

But there was one thing that really stood out to the room.  Ron asked this:

“Did you know one of the first 10 questions asked in almost every deposition by a plaintiff’s attorney is ‘What is your company’s policy on what to do at an accident, and were you trained on it?’”

The reason it stood out … every pen in the room was frantically writing down the question.  Two-thirds of the room then admitted their company didn’t have an accident policy like Ron had described earlier.

No one wants that call at 4:00 in the morning.

But chances are you’re going to get that call at some point in your career.  So if any one of your drivers was, knock-on-wood, involved in an accident today and asked that question … how would you fare in litigation?

I’d like to invite you to attend our next Safety Management Boot Camp.

The event is held at the state-of-the-art Vertical Alliance Training Campus in Dallas, Texas.  The lawyer presentation is just one of the many things you’ll learn from over the course of two days.  Reserve your free seat to our next event online.

5 THINGS YOU’LL LEARN AT THE Safety Management  Boot Camp…

1. How to prepare your company before, during, and after a catastrophic event.

Hear from some of the very best defense attorneys to learn what your company needs to do to lay out the perfect defense ahead of time before any accident ever occurs.

2. How to make online training more than pay for itself through strategic initiatives

Because we have been doing online training since 2007, we have over a decade’s worth of success stories to share.  You’ll learn how to reduce maintenance expenses, improve CSA scores, reduce OS&D claims, streamline orientations … heck, we even share how you can improve your accounts receivables through online training.

3. How to get usage out of an online training system

No matter what kind of system you have, if you don’t get usage out of that system, it’s worthless. One of the things that we’ve perfected is how to get people to use an online training system. At Boot Camp, you’re going to learn exactly how to get your drivers engaged in your training.

4. How to identify areas where training is inconsistent and costing you a fortune

You know they say in the world today that there’s about 54 hours of unfinished work on everybody’s desk, and we’re asking you to take two days out of your schedule to come visit with us. It’s worth it. You’ll learn how to master training techniques that will alleviate a lot of the “busy” work that keeps piling up on your desk.

5. What documents you need to retain so you don’t get a claim levied against you

Your company could end up going to court defenseless if you don’t retain things asked for in a preservation letter.  You’ll learn when to put a litigation hold on certain things and why.

Plus … you’ll earn professional development credit

The Safety Management Boot Camp is a two day business building opportunity unlike anything else in the industry. earn NATMI credits while you take in valuable information to transform your training program.

Training can be an effective deterrent to harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace. Not only that, well documented training is invaluable if you do have litigation or a charge of discrimination filed against you. It allows your attorney to be able to highlight not only that you have harassment and discrimination policies in place, but also that you’re frequently reminding people of them. The Infinit-I Workforce System makes it easy to assign out policies and ongoing refresher training on these topics.

In addition to training, the most critical thing your company can do regarding harassment and discrimination is to have an open-door policy and to encourage reporting. When you get a report, you must ensure your staff is trained on how to handle it. While your staff is busy, and you have a million things going on, if someone comes to you to talk about a problem, it’s critical that you listen to them and handle it effectively and handle it timely.

6 Internal Remedies to Prevent Harassment in the Workplace

1. Train
2. Understand and promote your anti-harassment policy
3. Distribute sexual harassment information to all employees
4. Encourage reporting
5. Respond effectively
6. Partner with HR

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Tail Swing and Sideswipe Training for School Bus Safety

After looking at school bus safety data from five different school districts, we discovered that each school’s transportation department had an average of 25 minor accidents a year. These accidents were typically related to tail swing or sideswipe issues.

While most of these accidents involved minor damage to mailboxes or stop signs, each cost around $1,000 to fix. These were also preventable accidents, meaning the damage never should have occurred in the first place.

Why Spend Thousands of Dollars on Preventable Accidents?

A quick calculation will show you these schools are spending an average of $25,000 per year to cover damages because school bus safety policies and procedures are not being followed. Yes, these districts are throwing away $25,000 a year on driver complacency.

Either the drivers are forgetting their safety training, not receiving proper training, or just not keeping safety as a focus. While these are minor accidents, the numbers can quickly increase in more serious accidents.

Cost Increase for Personal Injury Accidents

Studies show one in six school bus crashes involve personal injury. If you don’t know how this will affect the costs, you may want to ask your school’s attorney how quickly the litigation costs can increase if an accident involves another person.

It only takes one tail swing or sideswipe accident involving a pedestrian or a person injured in another vehicle to place your district in a personal injury legal nightmare. The cost for paying out in one of these cases can get into the $100,000 or more range.

Training Reduces Accidents

When you train a teenager to drive, you train with them on the skills they need repeatedly. You spend time going over things like backing, increasing follow distance, lane changes, proper speeds, etc. A school bus driver requires the same ongoing training.

To maintain school bus safety, drivers should be continuously training on defensive driving skills. They need continuous bus safety training. How much emphasis a school district places on training is directly related to their costs like potential claims and insurance premiums.

If a district has a high frequency of accidents and is not training to increase awareness and prevent them from happening, they will have higher insurance premiums. This is because the frequency and severity of their accident will continue to grow.

The Training Tools You Need to Maintain Bus Driver Safety

Infinit-I Workforce Solutions is a leader in the transportation training industry. We have several training titles geared towards school bus safety in our training catalogs, and we are always adding new videos to help with training on topics like avoiding tail swing and side swipe accidents.

Not only that, but if you notice any other trends in bad driver behavior, the system makes it easy for you to react to it immediately, train on the issue, and maintain proof you’ve held your school bus drivers accountable. For more information on the school transportation training provided through Infinit-I, request our catalog for schools.

If you want to learn how the Infinit-I system can make training for your school district easier, request a demo to see it for yourself.