Moving Words – Civil Unrest
Timothy Brady
“At the end of the day, the goals are simple: safety and security.” – Jodi Rell
We are living in unprecedented times. A time when a new history is being made from events over which we have little to no control. How we come out on the other side, and there will be another side, depends on our actions and reactions to the current unrest.
We all have our political convictions and opinions regarding the unrest and which side we support; however, more importantly, we must maintain our business and do our best to keep it above the fray. The question is, how do we keep our moving business focused on taking care of our customers and away from being tossed into the arena of conflict and said unrest?
Encourage members of your company to avoid inflammatory remarks on social media. An excellent example of what not to do is from an owner of a very large motorcycle and RTV-ATV dealership who is alleged to have posted on his personal Facebook page direct attacks and racial slurs on those protesting. From that simple 20-word sentence that went viral, he’s lost his motorcycle and RTV/ATV dealerships as the manufacturers quickly distanced their companies from his alleged posts by cancelling their dealership agreements with him.
In the moving business, that can easily extend to national accounts cancelling contracts to van lines pulling agency authority.
As easy as it is to get drawn into the political upheaval, think long term, not short term.
Let’s also look at how to avoid putting a van operator and moving crew into the wrong place at the wrong time.
You must have a member or members of your dispatch team track where the protests are occurring on a daily basis. Some of the sources for protest and unrest advisories are the State Trucking Associations via social media, State and local highway departments and law enforcement. If you see a news report, it should be checked out with at least one of the other government or state trucking associations for validity.
Moving companies, van lines and agencies need to set up daily ‘Areas to Avoid’ advisories to their van operators so they don’t use streets and routes where protests are scheduled. Each van operator needs to make their safety a priority. In other words, if they don’t feel safe completing a shipment because they fear the area is unstable, they should choose an alternate route, pull over in a safe zone and inform their dispatch and shippers. Moving companies throughout the country need to adapt to these difficult times by making their employees and van operators’ safety a priority above deadlines and profits.
The Trucking Association of New York has been sharing information related to scheduled protests and road closures with their members. The Association has also shared with truck driver’s information on how to avoid a trucking accident during protests. Here are some tips for your van operators:
Plan an alternate route to avoid closures on major roads and highways due to protests.
Contact every shipper who is in or adjacent to an area of a planned protest and ask about the current conditions. If determined to be unsafe, then contact dispatch to review and propose an alternative option.
Van operators are a moving company’s eyes and ears on the ground. It’s imperative they inform their moving company of road conditions and events that could impact other deliveries or pickups.
It’s extremely important when any van operator and crew is in the general area of a protest or unrest that dispatch knows where they are at all times. Constant communication is a must to ensure everyone’s safety.
Finally, make sure your dispatch, van operators and safety departments take advantage of all available technology, including social media platforms which have real-time information from live feeds regarding on-going protests.
The bottom line is, just like adaptations for COVID-19, we can get through this if we keep our heads, think logically and check our emotions and our politics at the door.
“You don’t need to know the whole alphabet of Safety. The A, B, C of it will save you if you follow it: Always Be Careful.” – Colorado School of Mines Magazine
