Nothing Touches the Truck

I recently heard United Parcel Service (UPS) Supervisor Jonathon Veseley addressing a risk management conference. His theme was building a culture of safety, and he talked about integrating safety throughout an organization—starting with new employee orientation and daily safety messages, to mentoring and safety audits.

Nothing Touches the Truck
One of his themes was “nothing touches the truck.” The phrase represents a visual image for UPS drivers when they drive and park their trucks on their routes. The full message was: the only thing that can touch the outside of the truck are the driver’s hands and feet, and the back bumper when it touches the UPS loading dock. No cars, trucks, people, tree branches, or other objects should touch the truck. They want their drivers to drive defensively and protect the space around the truck, as well as the truck. It reminded me of the National Safety Council’s driving program that stresses maintaining a “cushion of safety” around your vehicle. And the concept works.

Avoidable vs. Fault
Mr. Veseley was asked about avoidable accidents. He said UPS looks at who was at fault in a traffic accident—and even more importantly, they investigate if the accident was preventable. They have investigated accidents where their driver was not at fault, but they determined the accident was preventable. He used an example of a UPS truck that was legally parked on a residential street but had parked opposite a neighbor’s driveway. Murphy’s Law took over as that neighbor backed out of the driveway and struck and damaged the truck. The neighbor was at fault, but it was an avoidable accident for UPS.

Both of these ideas are relevant to our public safety community and might be a good topic for your next safety committee meeting.

Remember:

                                       Responder Safety = Public Safety


Up next: The Motorcycle in The Lobby—The Alexandria Police Station

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful.

Rob

Lakeville PD FTO: Shorter Shifts=More Repetitions

New police officers go through a Field Training Officer (FTO) program once they are hired. The new officers are teamed up with an experienced training officer who instructs and coaches them through the program while they handle incoming police calls. Recently the Lakeville Police Department (LPD) changed the scheduling for their new officers to improve their performance during this training. I interviewed Lakeville’s Deputy Police Chief John Kornmann on what they are doing.

Q. Why did you change your field training officer program?

A. The city of Lakeville experienced significant growth during the 90’s and early 2000’s. Due to the economic downturn of 2008, the LPD did not train a single officer from 2008 to 2011. By 2014, the department was experiencing a hiring boom. After three candidates did not pass the field training program, we began to look at ways to improve. 

One of the issues we discussed was the number of shifts devoted to training new employees. On our 12-hour shifts, the average trainee had 50 shifts to learn the job. Officers who are new to policing must learn the day-to-day routines of putting on the uniform, participating in roll call, logging on to the computer, and taking calls. Fifty days did not seem to be doing the job.

Q. What changes did you make?

A. We decided to try something to improve the socialization aspect of the job. Like all training, repetition is often the key to success. Trainees are now scheduled to work 8-hour shifts, during the high call load times. The trainers still work 12-hour shifts. This arrangement does take some work in the scheduling department. 

Trainees work with two trainers during the week. The result is the trainees now experience 80 shifts devoted to training. During final phases of training, officers are transitioned to the 12-hour shift they will work. This aids in teaching the new officers how to manage their time on 12-hour days versus the eight hours they may be accustomed to, and it further aids in teaching officers what it takes to work here.

Q. What have been the results?

A. The results thus far have been positive. All trainees have made it through FTO using this system. Trainees are more visible to members of the department as they are at work more often. When a trainee has a bad day, only eight hours of training time is used up. A bad day on a 12-hour shift uses up just 3% of training time! Another positive is that the trainers have four hours alone at the end of their shift to complete their FTO paperwork and to remain active with their own police work at the end of their shift.

Q. Anything else?

A. We continue to fine-tune this process but are happy with the result of the changes.

Up next: At UPS, Nothing Touches the Truck

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful.



Rob

Foot Pursuits: They are Very High Risk

Foot pursuits are high risk areas.

It’s a scene right out of the movies: The police officer jams on the brakes, the squad car screeches to a stop, the officer jumps out, and starts chasing a suspect. It’s called a foot pursuit and that officer just went through an invisible sign that says “High Risk Area.” That risk applies not only to the officer, but the suspect and the public as well.

LMCIT statistics show that these “high risk-low frequency” events account for 8% of the total police work comp claims, and that injuries from a foot pursuit make up 7% of the total cost for police work comp. Often the officer is alone and this explosion of energy will cause most officers to have tunnel vision, lose situation awareness, and impair their ability to communicate. Frequently, radio transmissions cannot be understood as the officer is trying to catch his or her breath and is somewhat lost as they pursue across the unfamiliar territory that is full of hazards like fences, uneven ground, and clotheslines—adding to the confusion.

Rochester Post Bulletin: “Five People Join Assault of Local Deputy”
A recent event in the Rochester area showed how rapidly the risk can increase during a foot pursuit. The driver of a car who had committed a minor traffic offense ran from the car, and a deputy pursued him on foot. Once the deputy caught him, the man began to fight with the deputy and they were on the ground. Suddenly four more people appeared to assist the suspect with the fight and one of them had the deputy in a choke hold and he began to “black out”. The deputy survived and was released from the hospital that night. Three of the people have been charged—a fourth is expected to be charged soon. 

Foot pursuits are an explosion of risk factors that are out of the control of the officer. The terrain, the suspect’s capabilities, lack of cover, communication issues, and potential ambush are just a few.

Some Risk Management Ideas

Foot pursuits are very high risk.

1. Know your policy if you have one.  Know where you have the “may’s and shall’s”
2. Plan ahead and mentally rehearse the factors that warrant this type of risk
3. Consider slowing down and maintaining a moving surveillance of the suspect
4. Let the suspect get tired, experience reduced vision, and loss of situational awareness. Save your energy to make the arrest
5. Coordinating other resources, setting up a perimeter, and maintaining situational awareness is often the best strategy

Up next: Getting more “reps” in a field training officer program.

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful.

Rob