Risk Factors

Employee Theft

Amid the many exposures that cause loss to businesses one of the toughest to recognize and combat against is employee theft. Call it what you like, employee theft, or the more politically correct term, “asset misappropriation”, it is a violation of trust perpetrated by an employ and tends to be one of the costliest to business owners. In the construction industry, asset misappropriation tends to be more difficult to identify and more difficult to prevent due to the distribution of the workforce and assets over multiple jobsite locations.

Experts recommend taking a two tier approach to minimizing susceptibility to and cost of employee theft. These controls include:

 

Internal Controls

• Establish clear lines of authority and responsibility for financial transactions

• Multiple person responsibility for financial transactions

• Comprehensive background checks in the hiring process

• Equipment inventory and accounting at all projects

• Appropriate and adequate security of project sites

• Periodic review of controls by senior management

Insurance

• Fidelity insurance (bond)

• Employee Dishonesty coverage - Covers loss of money or other property by employee

• Premises Inside - Covers loss of money from theft by other than employee

• Premises Outside - Covers loss of money while in care of someone else

• Funds Transfer Fraud coverage

 To find out more information on protecting your companies assets please click on the following links:

http://www.constructionexec.com/Issues/April_2009/Special_Section3.aspx

http://www.constructionexec.com/Issues/October_2008/Special_Section8.aspx

http://www.missouribusiness.net/docs/problem_employee_theft.asp

http://www.score.org/article_how_to_prevent.html

FMCSA Has New Fleet Safety Management System - CSA 2010

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is working to launch a new motor carrier/fleet safety evaluation system which will replace Safersys in late 2010.  The new program is titled Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010.  The purpose of the program is to help reduce the frequency of commercial motor vehicle accidents, fatalities and injuries. 

The new CSA program will utilize a two step approach to asses both the carrier and the individual driver targeting seven behavior and safety categories which are referred to as BASICs (Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement Categories.) The seven BASICs are:

• Unsafe Driving
• Fatigued Driving
• Driver Fitness
• Crash History
• Vehicle Maintenance
• Improper Loading/Load Securement
• Controlled Substances/Alcohol 

The seven BASIC categories will be used to identify a motor carrier's safety issues, prioritize carriers for intervention as well as support the safety investigator's decision on the best method of intervention for that specific carrier.  If issues or concerns are identified by scores given in the BASIC categories (thru roadside inspections), the FMCSA will work with the motor carrier through progressive intervention steps to correct any unsafe behaviors.  Below is a list of the various intervention steps which are listed with increasing severity:

• Warning Letter
• Targeted Roadside Inspection
• Off-Site Investigation
• On-Site Investigation - Focused
• Cooperative Safety Plan
• Notice of Violation
• On-Site Investigation - Comprehensive
• Notice of Claim/Settlement Agreement

In February 2008, FMCSA launched test markets in Colorado, Georgia, Missouri and New Jersey.  The test markets are fully operational and are scheduled to run for 30 months thru mid 2010.  Upon completion of the test markets, FMCSA plans to launch full implementation of the CSA program in all 50 states. 

You can learn more about this new program by visiting the following site:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/csa2010/home.htm

I definitely suggest downloading and reading the "CSA Fact Sheet" and "New Safety Management System vs. SafeStat" comparison which can be found on the website noted above. 

Please let us know if you have any comments, thoughts, questions or concerns regarding this new initiative. 

Seatbelts - Seeing is believing

Many of you are aware that Volvo, as an auto maker, prides themselves on the safety of their automobiles, and heavily emphasizes safety in most of their marketing approach.  They tend to carry that philosophy over to their commercial truck division as well.  That being the case, they have a series of very short, downloadable safety videos on their Volvo Truck web site. 

I've attached a link to these free video clips for your reference ---->  http://www.volvo.com/trucks/global/en-gb/newsmedia/publications/safety/safety_info_arch_movies.htm

Several year ago Volvo had done a couple great clips simulating a truck rolling over, and showing what happens in a roll-over. I used to have VHS tapes of these, but couldn't find them, so I started searching the internet for them while preparing for a driver meeting.  There are two videos, one showing the roll-over from an exterior view, and the other with cameras mounted to show what happens inside the cab as well.  These two videos are the last two on the list of videos from the web site.  The intent is to show how critical seat belt use is.  These videos are perfect for a presentation and discussion during a driver meeting where seat belts are a topic of discussion.  We hear often about how a person doesn't want to be trapped in a vehicle in a bad crash, or even more ridiculous that the person wants to be thrown free of the scene.  The videos are excellent at countering these points.  In the videos, the driver is using a seat belt, while the passenger is not.

Some discussion points you can include in a safety presentation could be:

• Pay particular attention to the exterior view of the roll-over.  Note the force at which the passenger is ejected at the very end of the video. Looks like it felt pretty good to be thrown free.  
• Also note the :10 second point on the video of the interior view.  I have a hard time believing this would not be the point at which the passenger is initially killed due to a broken neck.  
• Also note around the :27 second point, where the driver is potentially killed or severely due to the flying passenger's (potentially dead) body landing on the driver's neck.  
• Once the passenger is thrown from the vehicle, it's clear to see that the driver is still, for the most part, securely situated in the driver's seat, and would likely have survived the crash were it not for the flying passenger

This seems like the kind of short video that could really be used in a safety meeting without a lot of time in preparation, as it pretty much speaks for itself, and it's hard to argue with what is seen.  I haven't reviewed the other videos on the site yet, as I was specifically looking for the seat belt videos.

The file download size is fairly large and may take a couple minutes, but can be saved to your computer for use later without an internet connection, or burned to a CD.