Re: I Question the Industry's LACK of Safety Culture

[rreschran]

In hearing about young tow operator, Alex Hayes, (killed outside Tucson AZ) and three other tow operator deaths in nearly 40-days, I'm left questioning the mindset of towers who respond to on-highway calls? Each were (reportedly) killed working white-line incidents. I question today's safety mindset of towers who continue to actively work the white-line with some allegedly standing in traffic lanes? I haf'ta ask ... "What in the hell's going on?" I don't know about you ... but, I'm tired of reading the same old crap ! !

 

To that point, I’d like to address the number of SDMO videos posted on tow forums, YouTube and Tic Toc. While I salute the safety messages these videos promote, they’re audience is the motoring public. But, I believe the whole of the tow industry is missing a bigger, life-saving message. Even to promote a SDMO message, these videos show tow operators and first responders walking in traffic lanes, back’s to traffic, standing on the motorist's traffic side door, or working white-line situations. In one pre-video that promotes SDMO awareness; a tow operator works to change a flat tire with his back to traffic, on the white-line and with a semi passing deadly close behind him. These videos should be directed at tow operators who forget, or just don't care about the dangerous surroundings they work.

 

Why do companies still change tires anyway … as a money stream? Why do cops still conduct traffic stops standing on the white-line side? Haven’t lessons learned proved that working the white-line or changing tires on high-speed highway is a deadly practice? That all goes back to the well-known paraphrase, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results."       R.

 

Having tracked operator fatalities for three-centuries, numbers prove that plenty of towers lost their lives in shoulder related incidents that could have been prevented. So, it makes perfect sense to limit one's exposure when working on the highway. Towers … stop putting yourselves in harm's way. So, the question comes down to ... "How does the industry keep towers off the white-line?" As a safety instructor, I can only make suggestions, but every tower is the keeper of their own destiny. And, it's sad to know that it's only a matter of time before another senseless pedestrian stike will rock the towing and recovery community.     R.