Insurance Broke?

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We have all heard the term, “Insurance Broke.” But have you ever heard of anyone going “broke” due to not having the right insurance? Today, we are going to look at required and recommended insurance coverage. Each state may have particular requirements or regulations, so always speak with an insurance professional well versed in your state’s insurance rules before making any insurance decisions.
INSURANCE COVERAGE THAT IS NECESSARY IN THE WASTE INDUSTRY
• Business Auto, coverage to protect you and your employees driving company owned vehicles, covering bodily injury and liability, property damage and other risks associated with operating vehicles in your business. EXAMPLE: Your driver cuts a corner short and damages a customer’s building and landscaping. This coverage pays for the damage to be repaired.
• General Liability protects you company if your business is involved in bodily injury or property damage. This coverage is often part of a larger “Commercial Package.” EXAMPLE: A customer slips and falls in your parking lot and receives a concussion. This coverage will pay the medical bills and defend your company in a lawsuit.
• Worker’s Compensation, pays medical expenses of employees injured on the job, replaces most of lost wages due to a work-related injury, and provides life insurance benefits after an on-the-job loss of life. Workers Compensation also covers ongoing care such as physical therapy. EXAMPLE: Your driver gets his arm caught in the hopper of your truck and requires extensive surgery. This coverage will pay the medical bills and provide compensation to the driver while he is off work.
• Inland Marine, many times a part of a larger commercial package, provides coverage for equipment that is transported over land, or is at a location other than your address. In the waste industry this would apply mostly to carts, containers, compactors, and other equipment installed at a customer’s location. EXAMPLE: a rolloff container at a remote location catches fire and the paint is burned off and the walls warped. This coverage will cover the cost of needed repairs to the container.
INSURANCE COVERAGE STRONGLY RECOMMENDED IN THE WASTE INDUSTRY
• Business interruption. Will pay the extraordinary expenses to continue operations in the event of a loss which otherwise will cause interruption for the operation. This could be part of a larger “Commercial Package.” EXAMPLE: A worldwide pandemic occurs and your whole staff is out sick. This coverage would cover the loss of income incurred due to the inability to perform services for your customers.
• Umbrella Coverage extends the coverage limits for many liability policies. Umbrella Coverage is often required under certain commercial, industrial, and municipal contracts.
• Pollution Liability, also commonly referred to as environmental insurance, helps protect businesses from unexpected pollution exposures that may not be covered by standard casualty and property policies. In the Waste Industry, Pollution Liability Insurance can be important in the event of a diesel, hydraulic oil or other leakage that can potentially cause an environmental cleanup. EXAMPLE: One of your trucks has a leaking hydraulic hose and sprays several lawns in a high-end HOA. This policy would pay for the cleanup and the replacement of the damaged lawns.
• Cyber Coverage, Protection for liability if confidential information is stolen via an intrusion into your computer network.
• Key Employee. Covers the loss experienced by the company in the unexpected death of a key employee who may be difficult or expensive to replace. EXAMPLE: your lead mechanic dies, and you now need to out-source equipment repairs until a replacement is found. Proceeds from this policy could be used to pay the additional expense of the outsourcing.
• Buy – Sell agreements funded by life insurance. This coverage enables shareholders to pay the survivors of a shareholder who has died for their portion of the business.
• Employment Practices Liability. Protect the company from inappropriate conduct, misrepresentations, or dishonesty on the part of an employee. EXAMPLE: An employee flirts with a customer’s employee and you are sued for harassment. This coverage would cover your expenses to defend this case and pay any damages.
• Employee Benefits Liability. Covers the company’s expenses in the event of an error in administering employee benefits. EXAMPLE: When a new employee was hired, a health insurance application was lost, and they were never properly enrolled. This policy would cover your expenses in covering any health expenses this employee had while he was not covered when he should have been.
• Employee Dishonesty. Protects the company from loss due to the dishonest of an employee. EXAMPLE: an employee services customers using your equipment and pockets the money. Once caught and prosecuted, this coverage would compensate for the loss the company incurred from providing the work and not seeing the income from that work.
SPECIAL COVERAGE
• Bid Bond. Often required by municipalities, a Bid Bond is a guarantee that a bid that is provided by a contractor is a serious bid. If a company is awarded a bid but fails to fulfill the terms of the bid and commence certain activities by a certain date, the bond holder (the municipality) can collect on the bond to cover expenses incurred due to the inability of the contractor to meet its bid commitment.
• Performance Bond, Often required as part of a municipal bid, a Performance Bond is a policy the contractor will provide to the municipality which will pay the city’s expenses if the contractor defaults on the terms of the contract.
So, insurance is a major expense if you want to conduct you business at the highest level of quality and professionalism. Do not get caught short. Having the wrong coverage or being under protected can cost thousands and thousands of dollars, or even your entire business. As a company grows, the risks only get greater. Do yourself a favor and review your coverage with an insurance professional soon and make sure you are adequately covered.
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Boy, I’ve been guilty of this….

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From the Harvard Business Review:

 

Overcome Your Team’s Resistance to Change

Many teams suffer from “active inertia” — the tendency to seek comfort in the old ways of doing things, even when the world around you is changing. To help your employees meet the moment, there are two techniques you might try.

• The “foot-in-the-door” technique. Start by asking people to do something small or easy. By agreeing to the request, and then meeting it, they develop a sense of commitment and confidence that makes them more enthusiastic about agreeing to the next (bigger) request. In other words, the path to big change is paved by lots of small steps and little bets — each of which builds on what’s come before.

• The “door-in-the-face” technique. With this approach, you ask your employees to do something even more demanding than what you actually have in mind. The idea is that by setting aspirations that seem extreme, you can push people to perform at a level — and creatively solve problems — that would have otherwise felt unachievable. This often pushes people to imagine innovations or work-arounds they wouldn’t think of in the normal course of business.

This tip is adapted from “Persuading Your Team to Embrace Change,” by Bill Taylor

What does the trash business and the Russian army have in common?

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There are many similarities between business and the military and war. One of the great business and leadership books is “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. Terms like strategic and tactical planning, chain of command and the emphasis on training are interchangeable between business and the military objectives.
This article in the link below from CNN is a great story about how neglected maintenance affected the Russian army’s advance into Ukraine.
What lessons can we learn from this article?
Ed Dryfhout ed@vantholenassociates.com

Brushing teeth and fixing trucks?

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The Importance of Preventative Maintenance
Let me ask you a question. Do you brush your teeth? Most people do on a fairly regular basis, but why? You don’t go to the dentist and find out you have 3 cavities only to go home and brush frantically in hopes of making them go away. By then, the damage is done. You brush your teeth 2-3 times per day to PREVENT the cavities.
The same goes for preventative maintenance on your equipment. Your equipment, like your teeth, are some of the most valuable assets you have. To lose them (your teeth or equipment) would be devastating. So, what are some things you can do to be proactive in your maintenance? Let’s take a look.
Our last 2 posts talked about pre and post trip inspections. That’s where you catch the immediate problems that may become bigger problems. If you aren’t engaging in this practice, start right away.
One of the most important things you can do as the person responsible for such precious assets is initiate a preventative maintenance schedule. There are software programs that can automate things for you and track service items, labor hours, parts costs etc. In future posts, we’ll talk about how you can actually measure and manage these things. (Imagine that!) Remember the phrase, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” If you are just starting out and maybe don’t have the budget for that yet, start with old fashioned paper or white board and markers. Look in your owner’s manual to find service intervals specific to your equipment and set up the schedules for those items. Some are tracked by hours, others track by miles. If you have implemented the pre and post trip inspections and your operators are handing in their inspection sheets daily, then you can track the hours and miles and set up the time when you will service your equipment.
Follow your service manual to determine what needs to be done at different intervals. For example, you need to grease things like cart tippers, automated arms and packer blades often. Oil changes and other items are less frequent and won’t be done at every service. The main things you want to be paying attention to at these services are tires, fluids, hoses, brakes, lights, belts and high wear items like floors and hoppers. These are the things that will cost you precious time out on the road if not addressed at the shop. A blown tire, ruptured hydraulic hose, or an out of service violation from a DOT officer for bad brakes will cost you hours and precious dollars.
There’s a lot to unpack here so in the coming weeks we will brake (see what I did there?) it down even further and get into the nitty gritty of what to be on the lookout for when you’re crawling under, around and on top of your equipment. Until next time, don’t forget to brush!
Ed Dryfhout
ed@vantholenassociates.com

Van Tholen and Associates
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Pre-Trip Inspections, Continued…

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Last time, we talked about the importance of pre-trip inspections.  I hope you gave some thought to the idea and that in addition to it being required, it’s also just good business. I know it seems like extra time in the morning but it really can save you hours down the road.

 

So, you’ve decided you’re going to take the leap and start disciplining yourself and the rest of your team members to do the same. What are the things you need to have on board while doing your pre-trip inspection?

 

First of all you need a good pre-trip inspection booklet. You can find these on various websites like JJ Keller, who has inspection booklets designed specifically for refuse trucks. They will have carbon copies so that one copy will stay with the booklet in the truck and the other copy can be handed in after the post trip inspection. We’ll talk about that soon as well!

 

Last time we talked about inspecting tires, lights, hoses and belts. I also want to touch on some important safety items. You need to have an approved type ABC fire extinguisher on board that is fully charged and has been Inspected by a certified fire professional in the last year. If you have never experienced a fire on your truck, good for you! It can be a devastating event to your business.

 

You will also want to have a set of three DOT approved triangle reflectors. Any local truck dealer or heavy duty parts shop should have these. In the event of a breakdown, you will need to have these on board so you can display them facing oncoming traffic.

 

The next thing you will need to make sure of is that your license plate registration is up-to-date along with your insurance certificate. Check the dates on the paperwork on board to make sure they are current. This is the first thing a motor carrier officer will ask for.

 

The officer will also ask to see the paperwork on your annual DOT inspection. This inspection needs to be performed by a licensed heavy duty mechanic. It will include a check sheet of all of the FMVSS (federal motor vehicle safety standards)items that were inspected. Also, an annual DOT inspection sticker needs to be posted in a conspicuous area on the cab of the truck.

 

If you don’t have maintenance software that logs the renewal information, make sure you come up with a system for reminding yourself to have this done. It can be as simple as a Google calendar reminder 2 to 3 weeks prior to the expiration date.

 

I hope this helps to give you a framework of what you need for a good foundation for a pre-trip inspection program. If you’d like to talk more, please contact us at vantholenassociates.com.  I look forward to helping you!

 

Ed Dryfhout

ed@vantholenassociates.com

#afriendinthebusiness

The Importance of Pre-Trip Inspections

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It’s 5 a.m., it’s 35 degrees and raining pretty hard.  Somebody just called in sick and so that’s one extra route to try to cover.  You better hit the road quick, right?  You looked over the truck as you were walking into the shop last night and everything seemed alright so it’s probably not worth taking the time now when you need to hit the road, right?

Beside the fact that pre trip inspections are a federally mandated regulation and there should be an inspection booklet on board and properly filled out, it’s just good practice.  So much can happen in between shifts.  Sometimes you may think gremlins have been active all night, letting air out of tires, severing wires to lights or rubbing hydraulic hoses together to the point where they will burst on the 3rd stop of the day.

It may seem like one more thing that will take time away from getting your customers picked up and getting done for the day but think about the potential downtime.  How long will you wait for a tire vendor or mobile repair service to show up at the farthest point from your shop and get you going again, an hour, maybe more?  5 -10 minutes in the morning can save you hours during the day.

Pre-inspection booklets should be kept in the truck and filled out after an inspection before leaving the yard.  The main things to look for are tire condition, operation of all lights, brakes, fluids, hoses, listen for air leaks and general operation. And don’t forget to look on the ground for fuel, coolant or oil leaks.  While the cart tipper functionality is not something a motor carrier officer will be looking at on a roadside stop, it is something that could cost you hours during the day but 5 minutes to fix before you take off.

Speaking of roadside stop, are you ready for that if it occurs?  If you haven’t filled out the pre-trip inspection, or don’t have it on board, there’s your first violation.  The day only gets longer form there.  Should that trigger a DOT audit, your week and month may get even longer.  A good friend of mine experienced such an audit.  The officer took an entire day calculating the fines.

So, before you leave, is it really worth skipping the pre-trip? If you need help setting up a pre-trip inspection policy, let us know, we’d be glad to help!

Ed Dryfhout

ed@vantholenassociates.com

#afriendinthebusiness

Vantholenassociates.com