Webinar Replay #112: What Your Insurer Really Cares About

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Lydia Wommack: After…

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Lydia Wommack: Okay, very good. Everyone, welcome, thank you so much for joining us today. We have a really big topic, and we have a lot to cover, and lots of experience here on the call, and so I’m very excited. One of the reasons that we invited Bill to join us today, he joined us, oh gosh, a couple events ago at our boot camp.

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Lydia Wommack: To talk about insurability, which is such a hot topic.

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Lydia Wommack: These days, and

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Lydia Wommack: and especially if you follow ATRI, the American Trucking Research Institute, they issue their top industry concerns report every fall. And number 3 on the list? The cost, rising cost of insurance. It’s coupled very closely with lawsuit abuse reform, of course, and then we’re all feeling the pinch here in this

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Lydia Wommack: this market, this economy. So, there’s lots to talk about. Bill has

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Lydia Wommack: deep experience in this world, in enforcement for a very long time. Then, I know, Bill, you were with the safety director with, in fact, one of our client fleets, and then most recently with Nirvana Insurance, and doing your own consulting as well. So a lot of history here and experience here from many different angles for transportation, so we are just so excited to have you here. Thank you for joining us, and as always.

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Lydia Wommack: Mark Rhea. Hello, Mark.

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Mark Rhea: Hello, everybody! How’s everybody doing today?

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Lydia Wommack: experience from Mark Ray with Lisa Motor Lines, and

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Lydia Wommack: Boy, it’s gonna be a good conversation. Please hop into chat really quickly, let us know where you are, and feel free to drop your questions. We’re gonna do the Q&A there at the end, but any questions you have, we’ll try and get to you in the webinar, and if not, we’ll answer them afterwards. And with that.

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Lydia Wommack: Bill, thank you.

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Bill Dorfner: Right, well, thank you, Lydia, and thank you, Mark. Thank you both for having me here today. It’s good to see everybody jumping on and seeing where y’all are from. That’s great to see. Again, my name is Bill Dorfner, I’m with Coastal Reconstruction and Safety, and as Lydia shared, I got a background in pretty much every aspect of the trucking world, from enforcing it, to being the safety director, to being a part of insuring, and now as a safety consultant for

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Bill Dorfner: safety managers and trucking companies as well. So, very happy to be here today and to talk about, you know, kind of the state of insurance with the trucking industry, and I know that’s a big concern for everybody. Lydia mentioned Atrie, and this is a quote from Atri that says, the trucking auto liability.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, premiums have actually risen by 36% per mile in the last 8 years, even though truck crashes have gone down by

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Bill Dorfner: by, you know, every year for the last 4 years. So insurance premiums are going up, even though trucking companies are doing a better job of operating more safely. And I will take this to another level. I’ve actually seen

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Bill Dorfner: 36% increases in one year, for some fleets. So, you know, it’s a serious problem, and we’re gonna talk about why, and we’re gonna talk about how to get you the best possible renewal every year, with your insurance company.

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Lydia Wommack: We all need that. Yeah, I heard at boot camp a couple weeks ago, one of the fleets there said they had clean loss runs, and still they got, I think, just over a 20% increase on their premium, so it’s rough world out there. So yes, please, any tidbits, we’ll be glad to take.

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Bill Dorfner: Yeah, and I’ll be happy to share, and you know, one of the questions I used to get from our fleets all the time is, how can we lower our insurance rates?

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Bill Dorfner: And the sad reality of it is, it’s almost impossible to lower your insurance rate. So the term I would usually try to use with them is, I’m going to try to help you get the best possible renewal that you can get. Maybe it’s a flat, maybe it’s a lower percentage, maybe it is lower. That would be phenomenal.

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Bill Dorfner: But here are some things that I’ve learned over the last few years that hopefully will help you out as well.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, the reason that insurance companies are taking these increases every year is, first of all, they’re losing money. Rising claims, severity.

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Bill Dorfner: And also the nuclear verdicts. And we talk a lot about the nuclear verdicts, but what we don’t talk as much about is why claims in general are just becoming more expensive. And if you think about a vehicle that you’re driving these days, if, you know, if you hit a 1978 Monte Carlo, it wasn’t gonna cost nearly as much as if you hit some of these vehicles now with all these sensors and…

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Bill Dorfner: you know, higher-end parts, and even just to replace a headlight, where you could just go to a bulb… get a bulb in the past, you know, to replace a headlight now is hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars on some of these vehicles. So everything is getting more expensive, and insurance companies are starting to lose money because of this.

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Bill Dorfner: So, they are starting to tighten their underwriting standards. They’re making it harder to get the best rates possible. There’s more of a focus on your safety culture, and not just what you have on paper.

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Bill Dorfner: And also, there’s an increasing expectation that you’re going to share your telematics data with them. And, you know, some insurance companies are focusing very, very heavily on that, and even underwriting mostly on the telematics, and secondary to those more traditional factors. So that’s a very newer trend in the insurance company, and it’s becoming more and more prominent.

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Mark Rhea: Are some insurances making it a condition of renewal to have telematics?

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Bill Dorfner: Yeah, that’s a great question. There are some insurance companies that will not even give you a quote unless you connect your telematics with them so that they can see the data, and they can see what your drivers are actually doing out there on the road, and not just looking at roadside inspections and claims history.

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Bill Dorfner: And we’re seeing that more and more, actually, in more of the traditional insurance market as well. You know, at first, maybe it was the insurtechs that were looking at that, but now you’re starting to see more traditional insurance companies getting involved in that data sharing. So it’s definitely a growing trend in the trucking industry.

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Bill Dorfner: Here’s the thing.

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Bill Dorfner: As a trucking company, you obviously want to keep your rates as low as possible.

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Bill Dorfner: And in order to do that, you want to put yourself in a position where insurance companies are competing for your business.

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Bill Dorfner: If they have to compete for your business, if you’re a good risk, they’re gonna compete for your business, and they’re gonna have to keep lowering their rates to get below the competitors. So, you want them to compete for you, and we’re gonna take a look at how some of that can work.

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Bill Dorfner: First of all, let’s talk about underwriting for a second.

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Bill Dorfner: Underwriting is essentially risk storytelling. It’s looking at, you know, who you are, what you do, and how you do it.

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Bill Dorfner: This is where the picture is painted of your company, and how your story is told.

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Bill Dorfner: So, they’re looking at your type of operation, who you are, what do you haul.

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Bill Dorfner: What kind of equipment do you have? What are your standards for your drivers? They’re looking at how you run, and what kind of safety controls and culture that you have in place.

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Bill Dorfner: Do you actually have a good, solid set of policies or driver guidelines? Are you actually supervising your drivers? Are you using technology that’s out there to help you operate more safely? And finally, what are your results? You know, the proof is in the pudding in this case. You know, what’s your loss history? What does your data say as far as your, you know, CSA scores and so forth?

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Bill Dorfner: And they get this information, some of it is internal, and some of it is external.

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Bill Dorfner: Internal is, obviously, they’re gonna ask… any insurance company is gonna ask for your last several years of loss runs, they’re gonna wanna see your claims history.

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Bill Dorfner: They’re going to want to look at your CSA scores, your inspections, any reviews that you’ve been under.

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Bill Dorfner: And then if they’re your current insurance company, they’re also going to look at the premium they’ve taken from you over the last several years, and also what they’ve had to pay out, which comes into your loss ratio. Have they actually made money on you in the past, or have they lost money?

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Bill Dorfner: Then external.

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Bill Dorfner: Obviously, they’re looking at, again, your SMS data, your inspection history, MVRs of the drivers, and any litigation history, if there’s anything currently pending as well.

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Bill Dorfner: So, let’s take a look at some things that drive your premium and your term.

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Bill Dorfner: All of this, determines how much you’re gonna pay.

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Bill Dorfner: how long… and things like, you know, what is your… what are your deductibles? And so forth. They’re looking at how many units you’re running, how many miles you’re running, and what you’re hauling.

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Bill Dorfner: Again, loss history, driver quality, safety management, and your regulatory compliance. And I want to talk about safety management.

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Bill Dorfner: They’re looking at the training that you have, they’re looking at the policies you have, and they’re also looking at whether or not you actually enforce the policies that you have.

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Bill Dorfner: All of these things drive your premium and what kind of terms that you can get.

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Bill Dorfner: And along those lines, one of the biggest levers that you have available to you is training. It’s one of the few things that you can actually control.

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Bill Dorfner: We all know there are some things out there that you can’t control. You can’t control every verdict of what a jury’s gonna say, you can’t control what the road conditions are.

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Bill Dorfner: You can’t necessarily control what your driver does behind the wheel once they get behind the wheel. But some of the things that you can fully control is who you hire, which is your driver qualification process.

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Bill Dorfner: How and when you train.

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Bill Dorfner: and how you actually enforce your policies, and whether or not you actually coach your drivers after there’s an incident, or a violation, or something along those lines. All of these things are completely within your control.

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Lydia Wommack: And I’m curious, to interrupt for a second, how many in chat, just a show of hands, or, you know, a quick… a quick chat, how many of you all are not only involved in safety, but also in hiring? Are you recruiting as well? Because I know everybody wears a million hats in their role these days, so let us know if you’re involved as well.

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Bill Dorfner: Yeah, and that’s a great point too, Lydia, because having talked to, you know, hundreds of fleets out there,

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Bill Dorfner: there’s such a wide range of safety managers out there. You know, there’s your third-party, you know, safety management consultants that are out there that maybe have multiple clients, but are also handling, you know, your account. There are some that are, you know, part-time, you know, or, you know, maybe there’s a full-time, dedicated, well-trained safety director, but I would tell you that the majority of the ones I’ve come across, safety managers are wearing multiple

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Bill Dorfner: hats. They’re doing safety, they’re doing, some accounting, the driver qualifications, HR, they’re handling all sorts of things, and it just kind of becomes overwhelming sometimes.

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Lydia Wommack: claims management, too.

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Bill Dorfner: Management, exactly, yes, absolutely.

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Bill Dorfner: So let’s talk for a second here about how training, actually impacts your claims. You know, claims,

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Bill Dorfner: can happen, and how your training… how you do your training can affect that. So, first of all, we look at frequency and severity. Frequency

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Bill Dorfner: you know, is there’s things that are happening consistently. How often are you having claims? You know, I’ve got the picture up there. How many days has it been since your last accident? If you’re constantly erasing that number and putting it back to zero, then you’re… you have a real problem with claims frequency.

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Bill Dorfner: Some of the things that you can train, work on with your drivers to decrease the frequency of your claims are talking about following distance and speed management. Obviously, you know, you don’t want to be rear-ending vehicles, pumping vehicles, things like that. Talking about defensive driving and hazard recognition.

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Bill Dorfner: Not just, responding to things that happened, but anticipating that something’s going to happen.

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Bill Dorfner: One of my kind of side careers is I do some driving instruction, and when I talk, especially with the younger drivers, I tell them all the time, you have to expect the unexpected.

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Bill Dorfner: When you see a vehicle up there that’s, you know, gonna, you know, waiting to turn out onto the road that you’re on, you just have to expect that they’re gonna pull out in front of you and be prepared to respond to that. So hazard recognition training is very, very important, even with professional drivers who have been doing this for a long time.

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Bill Dorfner: Things like backing, lane changes, and intersection skills. We see a lot of right turn squeeze accidents. All of those are very, very frequent, and there is training out there that can help reduce the frequency of those things, along with fatigue management.

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Bill Dorfner: And now let’s take a look at severity. These are the ones that are costing you a fortune, and that are costing insurance a fortune as well.

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Bill Dorfner: These are the things that make every incident even more severe and more expensive.

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Bill Dorfner: Things like car co-securement and rollover prevention. You know, a vehicle having to pull off to the side of the road is one thing. A vehicle pulling off to the side of the road and then rolling over gets really expensive and also more dangerous.

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Bill Dorfner: how you respond to your incidents. What are your post-crash protocols? Do you have training in place so that everybody is on the same page of what to do, what to say, what not to say, and how to respond when an incident happens? And in those moments, it is critical, and can make or break a claim as far as being

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Bill Dorfner: in control, or a claim going out of control. Seatbelt usage is a big thing. Obviously, it can make a claim far more expensive if a driver is ejected, or if a driver is tossed around, versus if they’re in control in their seat.

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Bill Dorfner: And also coaching from Telematics videos. And telematics, or from videos, or however you do that.

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Bill Dorfner: The question is, and the question’s going to be asked, is how have you responded in the past

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Bill Dorfner: To incidents.

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Bill Dorfner: Has this incident occurred in the past, and how did you respond to it? And if you didn’t respond to it, in a proper way, then they’re going to show that this is a pattern.

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Bill Dorfner: So, it can make the claim and the payout far more severe than what it should be.

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Lydia Wommack: And this is that storytelling you were talking about, is that you have to be able to advocate for yourself, tell your story. Yeah, there may be some… some… I mean, there are gonna be accidents, that’s just the nature of accidents, they happen. So it’s how you frame the story and how you talk about, you know, the… the…

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Lydia Wommack: Due diligence to reduce the frequency in order to control the severity, right?

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely. And, you know, plaintiff’s attorneys want to paint the worst picture of you. So, you know, there’s…

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Bill Dorfner: There’s, you know, getting into collision, and then there’s getting into collision, and then being able to show negligence, and then they’re…

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Bill Dorfner: getting into a collision, allowing them to show negligence, and then allowing them to show gross negligence, which means you knew there was a problem, you chose not to do anything about it, and this happened anyway. And you definitely do not want to get into that situation, which, again, is why training is so important. It shows that you’ve been making an effort all along.

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Lydia Wommack: And you mentioned in this hiring, too, because it starts… I mean, it really starts pre-hiring and policies, but it definitely starts

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Lydia Wommack: As you are bringing on new drivers.

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Bill Dorfner: 100%.

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Bill Dorfner: And, you know, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked the question, when I speak to a fleet that I’m just, you know, getting to know.

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Bill Dorfner: I ask about what is their training program, and their answer that they give me is, oh, well, we only hire experienced drivers.

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Bill Dorfner: And that tells me a couple things. First of all, they’re not doing any training. They’re just expecting a driver to come in, they’re handing them the keys, and they’re putting them out there on the road.

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Bill Dorfner: And they’re also trusting the last company.

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Bill Dorfner: To do their job for them.

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Bill Dorfner: And so, my question to them is, do you know if they were ever actually trained on the job?

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Bill Dorfner: what bad habits have they picked up from that last job? And, you know, were they trained poorly? Maybe the last company did training, but they trained them the wrong way to do things, or they trained them in how to beat the system.

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Bill Dorfner: So my question for you all is, are you actually willing to allow some other company, some other safety manager, some other dispatcher, some other company owner to run your fleet?

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Bill Dorfner: And if the answer’s no, then you need to make sure that you have proper training protocols put in place when you bring that driver on. And don’t just expect that because they have years and years of experience, they’re gonna do the right thing when they get out there on the road. You want to make sure you teach them what your idea of the right thing is, and to provide that training to them.

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Lydia Wommack: I think I hear commonly, especially in our boot camp event,

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Lydia Wommack: you know, all the time, whether it’s training or, you know, accident mitigation, trying to preempt negligence, it’s commonly, oh, we already do that. We already do that. So I think the question for you, Bill, is, what’s the difference between we already do that, and we already do that well, or effectively?

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Bill Dorfner: Yeah, and that’s a great question. You know, there are a lot of folks, and I’ve heard that many times too, oh yeah, we do that. We do that. And one of the responses that I’ll give them is, okay, show me.

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Bill Dorfner: Show me how you do that. Show me what you do. And it’s better to answer that question when a consultant is talking to you than when you’re sitting in a deposition trying to answer that question.

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Bill Dorfner: That’s… that’s the wrong time to learn that you’ve been doing things wrong the whole… the whole way. So, you know, I’ve seen a lot of fleets that have had training systems in place, and they just didn’t use them.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, and I’ve worked for, you know, companies in the past, too, that, you know, you pay a lot of money for these things, and these systems in place, and maybe this software over here, and you’re not using them to the fullest extent.

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Bill Dorfner: We see the same things with monitoring telematics. You know, maybe you’ve got a Motiv, or a Samsara ELD system, or Geotab, or whatever it is that you have out there. Those systems have all these different reports and all these different ways of looking at how drivers, you know, can be, you know, graded and scored on their safety.

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Bill Dorfner: And I hear it all the time that, oh yeah, we look at that, oh yeah, we look at that score. And… but what is in that score? What are you looking at in that score? What are you actually doing about it to act on it to improve it? So, you know, lip service is… is…

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Bill Dorfner: It is not enough, especially when it comes to claims and severity and having to answer to it in a deposition or a trial.

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Bill Dorfner: So here’s… here’s kind of what good training looks like. First of all, there should be some sort of formal orientation process. Not just pencil whip forms, not just, you know, we bring the driver in, we hand him the book, sign it.

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Bill Dorfner: and send them on their way. It should be something that’s documented, this is how we do it, making sure that they go through each proper step before they’re actually given the keys to drive their first load. So, your orientation should be formal.

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Bill Dorfner: In addition to that, you should have annual or periodic refresher training for your drivers.

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Bill Dorfner: all of your drivers, and this is where I hear where fleet safety managers want to pull their hair out because they have these experienced drivers, and maybe they’ve been with the company for 10, 15 years, and the driver’s asking the question, why do I have to do that?

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Bill Dorfner: You know, and that’s… and it’s a fair question, you know, from the driver’s perspective, like, maybe I haven’t… you know, I’ve got, you know, so many million miles of safe driving, I haven’t had a violation in the last two years, why do I have to do this training?

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Bill Dorfner: And part of it is just to remind them, it’s a refresher. We all fall into bad habits. We also… we all get complacent. Maybe you’ll pick up a little tidbit out of this thing that you hadn’t thought about in a while. The other thing is that if you don’t do that.

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Bill Dorfner: If you don’t show that it’s systematic, it can come back to bite the company.

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Bill Dorfner: When something bad actually happens. And sometimes that’s just the best way to explain it to the driver. Like, listen, you know, I understand you are absolutely one of the best drivers that we’ve had, for many, many years, you do an awesome job, and so what I need you to do, I need you to be, you know, a great example for all these other drivers who clearly are not as good as you are, that have to take this training, you know, just do me a favor, be a leader, let’s take this training, let’s protect everybody.

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Bill Dorfner: Sometimes that’s just the best way of doing it.

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Bill Dorfner: In addition to that, there should be some sort of targeted training. You should be looking at the violations that you’re having.

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Bill Dorfner: Seeing where they’re becoming more frequent.

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Bill Dorfner: And assigning training that ties in with that.

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Bill Dorfner: I do see some folks who use training management systems, or maybe they have their own stuff. They say, oh yeah, we train on this, we train on this, we train on this.

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Bill Dorfner: And in reality, it has nothing to do with what their operations are. They’re just… they’re just going through motions and checking boxes. Make sure that your training actually applies to your operation, and that it’s actually targeted to the problems that you’re having.

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Bill Dorfner: And hey, we’ve all heard that everybody learns differently. You know, there are auditory learners, there are visual learners, there are hands-on learners, so try to find, you know, multiple ways of training your drivers.

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Bill Dorfner: Learning management systems are awesome. It’s an awesome way, there’s visual, there’s auditory, sometimes there’s questions that you have to answer.

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Bill Dorfner: In-person, one-on-ones, driver safety meetings, or going out to the yard and saying, hey.

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Bill Dorfner: Show me how you do your pre-trip inspection, and let’s talk about each step.

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Lydia Wommack: Yeah, nothing beats a hands-on.

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Bill Dorfner: Yes, absolutely. So use multiple methods, but here’s the thing. Document everything you do.

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Bill Dorfner: And we got a slide a little bit later that’ll talk a lot about that, but if… don’t… no matter how good your memory is, don’t depend on your memory of when you did stuff.

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Bill Dorfner: And let’s face it, you might have moved on to another job by the time something comes up, and no one’s going to remember if you had a discussion with a driver. Make sure that you document everything that you do, all the training that you do, and keep that somewhere where people can find it.

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Mark Rhea: You know, Bill, sometimes I think the word training gets overused, and maybe needs to be combined with just plain information exchange. And I’ll use an example, personal conveyance.

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Mark Rhea: Is that… if you… if you need… you definitely need to explain to your driver what your policy is, and what… what’s allowable and reasonable under personal conveyance, and what… what the…

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Mark Rhea: the reality of personal conveyance is, that’s more information exchange than it is training. Would you agree with that?

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Bill Dorfner: Yeah, I would agree with that. You know, there’s…

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Mark Rhea: And as a carrier, it’s their responsibility to exchange that information that’s very clear, very precise, and documented.

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Bill Dorfner: Yes, absolutely. And, you know, there’s a lot of carriers that have driver handbooks, or, you know, they call them policies or procedures manuals. Everybody calls it a little bit differently, and there’s some debates about what they should be called. But, you know, there are, there are some that, you know.

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Bill Dorfner: They say they issue them to the drivers, and there’s no documentation that they ever did.

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Bill Dorfner: That’s that information exchange, too. I, you know, I think training would be taking it to another level of saying, hey, here’s this document, and let’s walk through this, and talk through this, and…

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Bill Dorfner: And, answer questions and so forth on it, and if you don’t understand it, let’s get through it. But yes, information exchange is also crucial, making sure that drivers have that as well.

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Bill Dorfner: Now, the good, bad, and the ugly. I’ve dealt with a lot of fleets out there, and there are a lot of them who are trying their best, but they’re just completely missing the mark. And you can see the graphic there, you know, with people trying to shoot arrows at the bullseye, and they’ve all completely missed, and some of them even aren’t even on the target.

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Bill Dorfner: you know, I have seen… I’ve talked to a lot of fleets who say, you know, we train, but they have absolutely no proof of it. And as… when I was working for the insurance company and doing, kind of, safety assessments on these fleets, you know, in order to share information with our underwriting team.

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Bill Dorfner: I would ask, you know, what is your training? And they say, oh yeah, we train our drivers, we train our drivers, but they have absolutely no proof. And when you ask them for specifics, they just have none. It’s like, oh yeah, well, when things come up, you know, we do this or we do that.

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Bill Dorfner: Or they’ll only do some sort of orientation, and then there’s no follow-up after that. And commonly, what I see

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Bill Dorfner: Is fleets, their orientation basically exists of making sure that drivers are filling out the necessary forms for, you know, their employment, or their 1099, or for getting paid, and all that other stuff.

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Bill Dorfner: But there’s no actual, training as far as how they’re supposed to operate a vehicle. Here’s your manual, sign it, here’s your forms, sign them, send them on their way.

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Bill Dorfner: Some of them will use the same generic course

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Bill Dorfner: Every single year. I remember when I first started doing driver safety meetings around the country, I would come to… I came to driver safety meetings, and I would have the drivers come in, and they’re like, you’re not just gonna show us the same video we’ve seen the last 3 years, are ya?

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Bill Dorfner: That is a sign of folks just going through the motions and doing the same generic thing. Make sure that your training is actually accurate, it’s up-to-date.

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Bill Dorfner: It’s consistent with what’s going on in the world. Don’t just use the same, you know, video, or presentation, or talk that you’ve used every single other time. Drivers are drawing it out, they’re not learning anything from it. Make sure it’s current, it’s relevant.

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Bill Dorfner: And it’s engaging.

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Bill Dorfner: Another problem is there’s just no proof of it. Nobody’s documented, nobody’s recorded it. You know, they say they do it, but they’re not able to show you any information of when or where it happened, or who was there.

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Bill Dorfner: And finally, that there’s no corrective action.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, they have policies and procedures in place, or driver guidelines in place. They say they have, you know, a three-strike policy, or a progressive discipline policy, but they don’t actually follow it. Drivers are getting the same violations all the time, and it just keeps getting repeated because there’s no corrective action that’s ever taken place.

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Bill Dorfner: So…

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Bill Dorfner: Having worked for, you know, the insurance companies and taking a look and trying to analyze and, you know, get the real story of a fleet.

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Bill Dorfner: Some of the things that we look for, you know, and some of the things that I would report back to, you know, our underwriters, are whether or not the company actually has top-down support.

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Bill Dorfner: And for those of you who are safety managers out there, I want to talk to you specifically right now. You know, I get the struggle that you want to do the right things, you want to implement new programs, you want to get new technology in there, but you’re struggling to get executive buy-in.

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Bill Dorfner: Maybe because it’s too expensive, maybe it’s because you might have to let some drivers go that… that, you know, people just don’t want to let go, or there’s a concern that drivers are going to leave if you try to implement this. I get it, I’ve been there, and I’ve talked to many safety managers who are going through the same thing.

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Bill Dorfner: One of the things that insurance companies are looking for is whether or not there’s actually top-down support.

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Bill Dorfner: From, you know, from the person who’s actually making the decisions.

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Bill Dorfner: We look for whether or not the policies actually match the practice. You know, I’ve seen 300-page driver, driver manuals and driver policies, and I know full well that that company is never going to be able

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Bill Dorfner: Never gonna be able to keep up with that and to, you know, enforce everything that’s in there, nor is any driver ever going to read it or fully understand everything that’s in there.

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Mark Rhea: Well, Bill, I will inject. I’ll tell you who will read those is the plaintiff’s attorneys, and they will read them very carefully, and find plenty of reasons to declare you irresponsible for not following those policies.

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Bill Dorfner: 100%. Absolutely. Everything that you put in those policies and procedures manuals, or driver guidelines, or driver handbooks.

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Bill Dorfner: Is open to discovery.

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Bill Dorfner: And if it’s in there, and you say you’re gonna do it.

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Bill Dorfner: you better be doing it. And if you’re not gonna do it, then you need to change the wording and change how that policy is written.

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Bill Dorfner: And so one of the things that I’ve done and helped folks with in the past is, you know, rewriting policies and guidelines and so forth, so that it’s something that’s gonna hold up for you in court, and that you’re actually going to be able to act on. It’s reasonable, and it’s stuff that drivers can understand as well.

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Bill Dorfner: It’s a great point, Mark.

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Bill Dorfner: Things need to be clear. They shouldn’t be, written in, you know, legalese and everything, what drivers aren’t gonna understand, necessarily.

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Bill Dorfner: And you also need to make sure that the expectations you set for your team are clear that what your bar is, as far as quality and safety and customer service. Make sure those expectations are set clearly as well.

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Bill Dorfner: And that everybody, drivers, staff, dispatchers, anyone in your organization, understands that and holds themselves to that, and is held to that.

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Bill Dorfner: Again, training, coaching, and corrective action, it’s a cycle, and it should be an ongoing cycle. You should always be analyzing, you know.

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Bill Dorfner: What is our training? Is it working? You know, what do we need to change?

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Bill Dorfner: And then regular review of those things. Again, you know, assess what you’re doing.

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Mark Rhea: Bill, one other comment on that. One of the best practices that I’ve

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Mark Rhea: witnessed in the last couple of years is the usage of, dash cam, near-miss dash cams from your fleet.

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Mark Rhea: And… and…

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Mark Rhea: putting those into a customized content that’s sent out, and just ask the question, what would you have done in this situation? What did the driver do right? What did the driver do wrong? What would you have done? It’s been very effective. It gets their input on… on… on the training reality.

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely, and one of my favorite things to do in driver safety meetings, when I go out and actually… and that’s one of my favorite things to do, by the way, is to actually be in a room with the drivers and just talk to them and have that dialogue, is ask.

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Bill Dorfner: show a quick video and say, what would you have done? What did the driver do wrong? What did the driver do right? And it’s amazing the discussion you get, and the different ideas, and the different ways of looking at things, and that can be extremely helpful.

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Bill Dorfner: With your team to get that out, and to have the drivers talk to each other and say, oh, no, I wouldn’t have done that. Well, I would have, and here’s why, and…

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Bill Dorfner: Driver experience starts to come out, and they actually start to kind of mentor each other, too, as long as you’re there to moderate it and to make sure that it’s being done, you know, in the right way.

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Bill Dorfner: But yeah, videos and stuff are… are great, and I like to encourage the fleets that I’ve worked with to… and especially if you’re struggling with getting drivers to adopt and be okay with putting cameras in their trucks.

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Bill Dorfner: Is to show the videos where the driver did everything right.

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Bill Dorfner: to avoid a collision. Show the… show that, you know, attaboys and attagirls, show those videos and say, you know, this is… this is a driver who did everything they could do, to avoid a collision, awesome job,

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Bill Dorfner: And, you know, use those. That helps create the buy-in. And then, you know, also ask yourself, ask the drivers, excuse me, you know, what if we didn’t have the video?

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Bill Dorfner: You know, maybe a collision happened, and it was… and the camera showed that that collision was not preventable by the driver who was in the truck.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, ask your drivers, what if we didn’t have this video? What would a witness have said? Or what could a witness have said? Maybe a witness that just drove by but didn’t stop, and they called in later? What could they have said about this that the video could have proved, you know, that the driver did everything they were supposed to do?

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Bill Dorfner: So yeah, dash cam videos are great for training.

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Bill Dorfner: Some… some high-impact training topics. This is just a starting list, there’s so many. But, you know, obviously defensive driving, space management, and speed. We want to talk about distracted driving.

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Bill Dorfner: And I’m gonna get on a soapbox here for a second. When you talk about distracted driving, don’t just talk about cell phones.

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Bill Dorfner: Because that’s, you know, every time I ask someone, hey, do you have a distracted driving policy? They say, oh yeah, we have a policy that says they’re not allowed to use their cell phone.

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Bill Dorfner: There are a million other distractions that are out there. And, you know, we practice this at one of the driving schools I work at, it’s a crush prevention school all the time, where in addition to a cell phone, I’ll, you know, we’ll get going, you know, at a high speed, and I’ll just ask him, you know, to change the temperature on the AC or on the heat.

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Bill Dorfner: and then, you know, give them a stimulus where they’re supposed to be hitting the brakes, and they’ll miss it because they’re looking down at a knob. So, there’s so many other distract… distractions out there, not just cell phones. Cell phones are important, electronic devices, that kind of thing, but talk about all distractions when you’re doing distracted driving trading.

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Bill Dorfner: That’s a huge one.

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Mark Rhea: I saw some custom content done recently on distracted driving danger zones, entering an intersection or construction zone where everybody slows down.

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Mark Rhea: And the general driving public, that’s a… that’s an invite to pick up your phone. And so you have to acknowledge and recognize this, you’re entering a distracted driving danger zone, and it was very effective, very well done.

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Bill Dorfner: Yeah, yeah.

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Mark Rhea: In other words, there’s a lot of drivers out there that are driving distracted. I think we would all agree with that.

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Bill Dorfner: Oh, oh, 100%. And one of the things that’s probably been the most eye-opening for me over the years is I’m one of those folks who’s never gonna ask a driver to do something that I’m not willing to do myself.

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Bill Dorfner: So, when we’ve talked about, you know, adopting dash cams and that kind of thing, I’ve actually had one installed in my own personal vehicle, along with an ELD, so if I was on a road trip, you know, I was logging my miles and making sure I took my half-hour break and all that other stuff.

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Bill Dorfner: But…

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Bill Dorfner: those dash cams will highlight everything that you’ve been doing that you didn’t realize you were doing. And Mark, you’re absolutely right. The… when you get to a situation where your vehicle slows down, or you come to a stop, or you’re at that red light, the temptation is there

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Bill Dorfner: to start doing all those things that you know you’re not supposed to be doing when you’re going down the highway. And those situations can be just as dangerous. You never know what’s going to happen around those areas. Pedestrians walking out in front of you, you know, workers in a construction zone.

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Bill Dorfner: you name it. That’s a great point.

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Bill Dorfner: And I would encourage, if you’re a safety manager out there, or the owner of a fleet or anything, and you’re asking your drivers to put a dash cam in their trucks, be willing to do it yourself. It’ll be eye-opening for you. You’ll find that you become a safer driver as well.

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Bill Dorfner: You understand the system a whole lot better because you’re actually using it, and you’re setting that example for them, and it creates much better buy-in when you say, hey, I’m willing to do it too. I’m asking you to do it, and I’m willing to do it myself.

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Bill Dorfner: So, if we go to the next slide,

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Bill Dorfner: there’s 3 terms on this slide that, you know, I want to talk about.

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Bill Dorfner: Compliance, safety.

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Bill Dorfner: Sorry, I just completely lost my… and insurability. They all kind of go together, but at the same time, they’re all just a little bit different. You know, compliance is meeting the minimum FMCSA requirements.

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Bill Dorfner: you’re doing what you have to do because… you have to do it. You’re checking the boxes, you’re making sure you got all your forms in place, you know, you’re…

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Bill Dorfner: You’re crossing your, T’s, you’re dotting your I’s, everything is in order.

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Bill Dorfner: Safety, to me, is what actually happens day to day. It’s behavior, it’s decisions, and it’s your culture.

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Bill Dorfner: And your insurability depends on those two things. It looks at how attractive you are to insurers, based on your compliance and your safety, because that makes whether or not your losses are predictable.

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Bill Dorfner: It’s also going to take a look at whether or not you’re defensible in litigation. If you don’t have those other two things.

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Bill Dorfner: In place, and you get sued, it’s gonna be a nightmare if you’re not as defensible as other companies.

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Bill Dorfner: Show.

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Lydia Wommack: You speak in Mark’s language there. He has, as you know, a great presentation on compliance versus culture. I love the addition of insurability, because it is such a key part of all of this now. It’s all integrated.

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Lydia Wommack: Yes, absolutely. Excited about this slide. Tim Luco is in chat, and Tim, thank you for joining us.

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Lydia Wommack: He said, hey, let’s talk a bit about the processes and manuals and

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Lydia Wommack: how important it is that you do business the way you say you’re going to do business. In other words, you know, not only are you documenting things, but you, ahead of time, you have the process and procedures, and that you’re sharing them out, and that you’re following to the letter. So, you know, along the lines of documentation, I know you mean, you know, keeping track of training, keeping track of conversations, but it starts with policy, too, and it’s a great call out to him. Very important.

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Bill Dorfner: Yes, absolutely. And those plaintiff’s attorneys are going to look at those things, and they’re going to read your policy out, and they’re going to ask you.

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Bill Dorfner: Do you do that?

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Bill Dorfner: And if they ask you that question, look out, because chances are, they find a… they found a spot where you didn’t do that.

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Bill Dorfner: So…

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely, making sure that you’re documenting everything, that your documentation is clear, it’s concise, and that you can follow it.

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Bill Dorfner: Awesome call out.

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Bill Dorfner: And along the lines of documentation, this is one of my favorite lines, and I see it, you know, on posters when I go down and visit my friends at INFINITI. And I might not have gotten the exact wording, but if it’s not documented, dated, or signed, or if you can’t find it.

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Bill Dorfner: It didn’t happen.

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Bill Dorfner: Can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked safety managers about their training, what have you done, or policies, corrective action, anything. And they say, oh yeah, we do that.

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Bill Dorfner: Well, show me And they can’t.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, and likewise, you know, if you’re doing driver safety meetings, are you having all your drivers, sign in?

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Bill Dorfner: Are you making sure that you’re documenting the topics that you talked about? And, you know, are you losing that sign-in sheet?

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Bill Dorfner: Are you keeping track of it? Is it kept away somewhere where people can find it if need be? Because if you can’t find that sign-in sheet, that safety meeting never happened. And that’s one of the very first lessons I learned as a safety consultant, as a safety director, as I was told.

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Bill Dorfner: This sign-in sheet is probably more important than the meeting itself.

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Bill Dorfner: Because if you can’t find it.

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Bill Dorfner: you never had the meeting. So…

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Bill Dorfner: Make sure that you’re documenting everything you do, including your training plans, what you’re training them on.

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Bill Dorfner: any tests or quizzes that you’re giving out, making sure that you’re keeping track of that, and any corrective actions and follow-ups that you have. And I know that INFINITI has an awesome product as far as keeping track of training and documentation and so forth, so…

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Lydia Wommack: We do. Never lost a record. Thank you for that.

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Bill Dorfner: That’s right, and you know, and I can say I’ve worked with INFINITI in the past, and needed some records that were, you know, a few years old, and

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Bill Dorfner: They were able to pull it up for me, no problem, so that was awesome.

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Bill Dorfner: So let’s go back to insurance. How does all this stuff affect your rate and your renewal? Because that’s, you know, what we’re here for, you know, how can I look great in front of my insurance company? Strong programs mean that you are going to have more markets that are willing to compete for your business.

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Bill Dorfner: They are gonna want your business. If you are a top-quality customer.

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Bill Dorfner: you know, low losses, low claims frequency, great policies in place, great safety management structure. Insurers are going to want to insure you, because they know they’re not gonna… well, they feel it, they’re pretty sure they’re not gonna have to, you know, pay out as much in claims, and you’re gonna be profitable business for them.

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Bill Dorfner: So you’re gonna get more quotes, and the more quotes you get, the better chance you have of getting a lower rate.

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Bill Dorfner: Which is the pricing potential. You’re gonna get more favorable terms and deductibles. You know, every company looks at this, and it’s not just about the rate that you pay, but also how much you have to pay up front, what your deductibles might be.

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Bill Dorfner: And, you know, the better you are, the more willing that insurance companies are going to be willing to offer you different products.

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Bill Dorfner: And also your flexibility for growth.

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Bill Dorfner: You know, insurance companies don’t want to see that you’re planning to grow, you know, exponentially over the next few years, but if you have all the right systems in place, if you have that foundation in place, then building on that is a little bit of a safer risk for insurance companies. So if you’re looking to grow, you want to make sure that you’re looking favorable to your insurance company as well.

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Bill Dorfner: Weak programs… let’s face it, there are some insurance companies, they won’t even look at you. And it’s gonna get harder and harder to find a company that will even insure you. And the harder it is to find companies to insure you.

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Bill Dorfner: your rates are going up. It’s gonna get more and more and more expensive. Think about it as just your basic, you know, credit score. You know, if you’ve got a great credit score, you’re gonna get lower interest rates on that loan that you need to take out. It’s kind of the same thing with insurance companies. You know, the more favorable you are, the lower rates you’re gonna get. Less favorable you are.

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Bill Dorfner: People aren’t going to want to work with you, and they’re going to raise your rates.

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Lydia Wommack: I think it’s important to say, too, it’s a vicious market out there, and insurance carriers are exiting

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Lydia Wommack: you know, commercial auto liability, and we need them in the market, so we, as a transportation industry, all together, rising tides lift all boats, right? We all need to do better, and it’s hard, but bring all fleets along into the safety world, because as we all become more, insurable and better risks, it’s going to help out with the insurance

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Lydia Wommack: Marketplace as well.

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Lydia Wommack: We need insurance carriers.

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Bill Dorfner: 100%. And in addition to, insurance carriers leaving the market, for the… leaving the trucking space, there are a lot of insurance companies who just simply aren’t going to renew, business, and sometimes it’s even been, you know, good business, for them.

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Bill Dorfner: But for some reason, market factors or some sort of red flag, they’ve just decided, we’re not going to renew you next year, and you need to go out and find somebody else. And of course, finding somebody else when more and more people are pulling out just exacerbates that situation and makes it worse.

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Bill Dorfner: So, here are some things that you want to show your insurance company, or your agent, when it’s time to renew your insurance.

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Bill Dorfner: Obviously, any evidence of training. You want to show that you’re making the best possible effort to improve your fleet year after year after year. The same thing with any policy changes that you’ve made to make your fleet safer.

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Bill Dorfner: Obviously, you’re going to want to look at the incidents and the CSA metrics. If you’ve done some improvements and they’re going down, make sure that you tell your story. Don’t let somebody else do it for you. And any technology that you’ve added, maybe you’ve added dash cams over the last year, maybe you’ve added asset trackers to your trailers.

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Bill Dorfner: Maybe there’s some sort of other technology, some software that you’re using to monitor your drivers better. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a piece of equipment that you’ve put on your trucks. Maybe there’s a great software that you’re using now to monitor your drivers, or your maintenance, or something along those lines. Make sure you tell that story.

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Bill Dorfner: To your insurers and to your agents to make sure that you, you know, get the best possible rates and the most options.

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Bill Dorfner: And then, you know, again.

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Bill Dorfner: Strengthening your training program, and any of your safety programs in general, is an ongoing process. It’s a cycle, and if you, you know, look at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, go to their website, they’ve actually got, you know, some great things on the safety management cycle, but you want to constantly assess where you’re at.

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Bill Dorfner: You want to plan for any changes. Hey, I want to do this in the next quarter, the next, you know, year, next two years. Plan for that stuff.

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Bill Dorfner: Actually act on it.

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Bill Dorfner: Document what you did, and then look back and say, hey, we did this, what changes, happened? What went well? What didn’t go well? Assess that, and start all over.

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Bill Dorfner: In order to strengthen your training program.

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Bill Dorfner: Some things that you want to make sure… here’s some tips. When you’re working with insurers, Be transparent.

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Bill Dorfner: About what your challenges and your actions are.

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Bill Dorfner: I’ve seen so many times where, you know, trucking companies are coming to potential insurers.

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Bill Dorfner: And they’re telling the story that they think the insurer wants to hear, but it’s not the real story. And that comes… becomes very, very clear with just a few questions. So be open, be transparent. If you’re being challenged with something.

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Bill Dorfner: tell them and say, hey, this is something that we’ve seen in the past, this is something that we’re working on, this is what we’ve done to implement it, and these are the results that we’ve seen so far. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re, you know, making progress to getting there.

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Bill Dorfner: Be open about that.

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Bill Dorfner: Share those plans, share your training calendars, make sure they know that you actually have something in place that you’re trying to do.

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Bill Dorfner: Invite your agent or your insurer to see your program.

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Bill Dorfner: And I heard… I hear it a lot, not trying to, you know, not trying to speak poorly about insurance agents, but I hear a lot that, you know, we only hear about them, you know, hear from, you know, at time of renewal.

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Bill Dorfner: communicate with them, say, hey, we just implemented this new thing, I’d love for you to see it. You know, let’s start planning earlier on for our renewal next year.

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Bill Dorfner: And then, if your insurance company, or potential insurance company, is a telematics-based insurer.

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Bill Dorfner: Ask them how that score is calculated.

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Bill Dorfner: And how you can improve it.

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Bill Dorfner: And this can be very important, because there’s a lot of companies out there that are saying, hey, we want… we need your telematics, we score you based on your telematics. Make sure they can also actually explain. It’s a two-way street. Make sure they can explain what’s in that score.

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Bill Dorfner: How can we improve that score, and how are we going to be, you know, graded or judged based on that score year after year after year?

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Bill Dorfner: And also ask for their safety team’s commitment, to you as well. You know, what are you offering to us throughout the year, from, you know, your safety or your risk management team as services, for us throughout the year? Because remember, your insurance company isn’t just renewing or interviewing you.

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Bill Dorfner: You’re interviewing dumb.

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Bill Dorfner: So, make sure that you, you have all that information that you need as well.

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Lydia Wommack: I think what I’m hearing throughout this is… I’m surprised at… I mean, I always knew you go into this and it’s all about numbers, right? How many incidents, how many accidents, crashes, CSA,

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Lydia Wommack: there’s so much that’s data-driven in this, but I keep hearing you say storytelling. It’s about telling your story, it’s about the right positioning, and really, that’s everything in this world, right? It’s the PR, so everyone, if you’re in safety, if you’re the owner, just add another hat to your head, because now you have to be in PR, too, and tell your story the right way for insurance.

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely, and, you know, to kind of, you know.

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Bill Dorfner: Jump onto that point as well.

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Bill Dorfner: I have, on many occasions, had underwriters say, hey, you know, we’re looking at this particular risk, we’re looking at this particular fleet, and there’s either… either A something on the back of my, you know, the hair on the back of my neck is kind of standing up about something, but I can’t… I can’t find it on paper, or…

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Bill Dorfner: I really, really like this fleet.

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Bill Dorfner: But what’s on paper just… It’s not as good as we’d like it to be.

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Bill Dorfner: can you meet with this fleet? Can you find out some more information? And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve either been able to help an underwriter, kind of calm them down about that thing that they weren’t quite sure about, and say, hey, I’ve actually visited with this fleet.

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Bill Dorfner: I’ve talked to them, they’ve shown me their operation, I think it’s a really solid risk that maybe we shouldn’t pass up this time around.

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Bill Dorfner: You know…

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Bill Dorfner: Conversely, sometimes there’s some that are great that look great on paper, and maybe they’ve just been lucky that they haven’t been, you know, inspected that many times on the road. That’s why they don’t have any violations, because when I get there, you know, their equipment is horrible, they have no safety management system in place, and I don’t know how they’ve gotten by this time.

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Bill Dorfner: But you have a chance to tell your story, and more often times than not, things that are on paper

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Bill Dorfner: Don’t fully tell your story. You know, maybe you’ve got a fatality that’s, you know, on… on paper.

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Bill Dorfner: But maybe that was, you know, something where a vehicle ran into the back of your truck while it was legally stopped, exactly where, you know, it was supposed to be.

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Bill Dorfner: and somebody else ran into the back of that. That story needs to be shared, and there are companies out there who will only be looking at paper and saying, well, nope, they had a fatality last year, we’re not even gonna look at quoting them. Make sure that you’re able to tell your story.

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Bill Dorfner: So…

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Bill Dorfner: Here’s the thing, kind of a little self-reflection, some mirror time is what I like to call it, you know, is it… looking at your own operation. If you were the underwriter for an insurance company.

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Bill Dorfner: Would you be confident taking a risk?

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Bill Dorfner: on your program.

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Bill Dorfner: Can you prove what you’ve trained on?

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Bill Dorfner: Who you’ve trained, when you did it.

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Bill Dorfner: Do you actually adjust your training to make sure that it’s based on what’s going on in your own operation, or are you just going through the motions?

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Bill Dorfner: And finally, if you’re on the witness stand, and you’re called to defend your company, and your own personal actions.

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Bill Dorfner: Would you be comfortable explaining what you’re doing About your safety program?

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Bill Dorfner: Would you be comfortable selling your safety program to a jury?

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Bill Dorfner: Those are some questions that if you ask yourself those on a regular basis, or if you print that slide off right there, hang it on your bulletin board, put it on your second monitor, however you do it these days, post-it note, ask yourselves these questions on a regular basis, and it’s… to me, it’s gonna really help you, motivate you.

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Bill Dorfner: And making sure that you are the most insurable company out there.

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Lydia Wommack: And I think that last point, Bill, especially, is…

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Lydia Wommack: How would this look? Whatever you’re doing, how would this look to a jury? How would this present to a jury? Is it consistent? Is it reasonable? Is it documented? How is it going to look to a jury? If I have to sit down and defend it, if I’m, you know, on Robert’s team, and I’m in deposition, Robert was in chat saying a team member, you know, was asked about the handbook, and…

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Lydia Wommack: it’s an uncomfortable seat to be in, but if you feel confident in explaining it, then you’ve already maybe won the battle, or at least you’re pretty far along. David in chat said, you know, nowadays, compliance with regulations is just the minimum standard when it comes to lawsuits, so there’s always that question, what more could you have done?

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Lydia Wommack: what are you doing beyond compliance? So, yeah, if it passes the jury test, the jury litmus test, then probably in a good spot for your insurers as well.

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely, yeah. Like I said, the mirror test is huge, you know. Look at yourself, look at what you’re doing, and ask yourselves, would… if I was sitting on the jury, what would I think about this company?

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Lydia Wommack: It’s great.

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Mark Rhea: If you can’t tell your story, the plaintiffs

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Mark Rhea: Attorney will tell it for you.

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Mark Rhea: And it’s not gonna be pretty. That’s a fact.

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely, yeah, that’s the last person you want to be telling your story.

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Lydia Wommack: Oh, yeah.

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Bill Dorfner: I, I know we’re, we’re getting a,

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Bill Dorfner: Right up on time, this is the last thing, just some key takeaways. Just as a reminder that insurers are looking beyond just the compliance and the paperwork. They’re looking at your culture and the training programs that you’re doing, because training can reduce the severity and frequency of their losses. They want to be profitable. They want to make money on you every year. If they lose money on you every year, they’re going to be moving on.

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Bill Dorfner: Make sure that everything that you do is structured, it’s documented, it’s dated, and most importantly, you control many of the factors that are shaping your loss trends. So, look at those things that you can control and improve on every single one of them, and you’re gonna make yourself more insurable year after year.

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Lydia Wommack: Bill, thank you.

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Lydia Wommack: Thank you so much. It was such a great presentation. We always love having you. If there are questions, please pop them in chat. We’ve been having some good conversation over there. I haven’t seen questions come through specifically, but…

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Lydia Wommack: Wow, that was a good one. Actually, I have a question for you while people are thinking, and I think Mark may have a couple. Mine is really looking ahead the next couple of months.

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Lydia Wommack: We have National Work Zone Awareness Week, we have International Road Check, and the focus areas, of course, are cargo securement, and there’s always something related to ELDs.

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Lydia Wommack: logging, tampering. And I saw cargo securement pop up a couple times in your presentation. The common topics that you should be training on are almost always featured in International Road Check Blitz, so any tips or advice as we enter these awareness weeks and blitzes?

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Bill Dorfner: The biggest tip I can give you for all of these Awareness Weeks is don’t wait until the week comes in order to tell your drivers about it, and I’ve seen that so many times.

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Bill Dorfner: you want to plan more than a month in advance for any of these Awareness Weeks, because you want to be able to have a chance to take a look at your equipment, you want to make sure that you have a chance to talk to your drivers, and if there are any types of deficiencies or things that you want to kind of go over ahead of time, you want to leave yourself that buffer zone. So 30 days, 60 days in advance.

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Bill Dorfner: Look at those calendars, put those things on your calendars as reminders, year after year after year, look for them. And don’t wait until that week, because I see that all the time, and they’re like, you know, drivers aren’t showing up because they know that the, you know, there’s a blitz outside the port, or something along those lines.

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Lydia Wommack: Right. Yeah.

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Lydia Wommack: Very good. Mark, any questions for Bill while we have him?

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Mark Rhea: Well, one quick one. I know there’s a lot of different weather conditions up in the Northeast. We had 90 degrees down here this weekend. Do you have any recommendations for the clients that are on the line here for some customized training, seasonally based?

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Bill Dorfner: Absolutely.

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Bill Dorfner: you know, if you’re… if you’re down in the South, down in Texas, where the heat is insane, you know, you want to make sure that you’re putting training out about that type of, you know, how to… how to deal in, you know.

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Bill Dorfner: hot weather, how hot weather affects, you know, your tires, your brakes, all that other stuff. If you’re up where I’m at in New England right now, you know, rain, snow, fog, look at those seasons and assign that training based on those things. You know, obviously, winter comes to a lot of folks throughout the year, so as you’re getting, again.

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Bill Dorfner: Don’t wait until the middle of January if you’re in Minnesota to talk about winter weather driving. Talk about it, you know, before that first snow comes, and I know from living up there in the past that it can come on September 1st. So, plan for that stuff, and make sure that it’s catered to where your drivers are running and where you’re located.

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Lydia Wommack: Bill, thank you. We appreciate you. I’m, of course, gotta do a plug on behalf of INFINITI, because all of this, or a lot of this, comes back to information exchange, communication, documentation, training. If you are frequent, consistent, proactive, and you require it, you’re going to be in a much better position when it comes to seeking favorable insurance rates.

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Lydia Wommack: Maybe one day even getting into a captive and sitting in front of that jury and defending yourself and your company. So, we believe that training is important, and no matter the job, whether you’re in the driver’s seat or in the maintenance shop, or anywhere within the company, everyone has underlying behaviors that make their role successful or not.

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Lydia Wommack: And it’s those behaviors that can get off track. Complacency, human nature, can get people off track. So frequent, consistent training, very important. We would love to invite you all to see our platform, kick the tires, so to speak, and take a look. We have

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Lydia Wommack: new and updated content every month on all of these topics. In fact, we’re rolling out some content for Work Zone Awareness Week. We just rolled out a new construction video last month, and this month, coming up, a couple of topics for road check, for cargo securement.

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Lydia Wommack: For logging. So if you’d be interested in taking a look, we’d love to have you and love to talk with you more.

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Lydia Wommack: Bill, thank you. We appreciate you.

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Lydia Wommack: Have you back again soon, and everyone, as a reminder, we will send along a replay of the webinar today, and if you need it, you can also request an ATME certificate for your certification points, for attending the webinar. Thank you all so much! Have a wonderful day!

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Bill Dorfner: Thank you for having me.

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Mark Rhea: Thank you, Bill.