Happy Hooking: Industry official seeking respect for tow truckers

TORONTO — On an annual per-capita basis, as many tow-truck drivers are killed in North America in the line of duty as police officers or firefighters.

As executive director of Ontario Recovery Group (ORG), based in Bracebridge, Ont., Nelson would like to one day acknowledge all those tow-truckers who’ve lost their lives on the job. He’s also determined to make his tow-truck organization a national body, so it speaks for the entire towing and recovery industry.

It’s an industry, he says, that doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

ORG was officially incorporated in 1988, and this fall will hold its first-ever four-day towing conference in Toronto, at which point, Nelson says, the entire trucking industry will get a first-hand look at the issues and challenges facing this critical link in the transportation chain.

The more towable you make trucks, the cheaper
hauling them away will be says Nelson.

“Truckers don’t like to think about the towing industry,” he says, “until they need it.” And, “eventually,” he adds, “they’ll need us.”

In addition to promoting professionalism and standards within the towing industry itself, Nelson — a former truck dealer — wants the trucking industry at large to co-operate with his sector in order to save time, money, and probably, lives.

Also, he says, because towing is an extraneous cost that many truckers would rather not pay, some members of ORG balk at being called out to incidents when it’s not clear who’s going to be covering the (very considerable) towing cost.

“The towing industry in this province anyway is getting hit so badly that we’re not far from the point when we’re not going to go out to a scene,” he says. “Would you send out your expensive equipment and highly trained staff to a scene if you don’t know who’s going to pay for the recovery? We have an awful problem especially with out-of-province and out-of-country trucks.”

At the Canadian Fleet Management Seminar (CFMS) in Toronto this past spring — as he will in the presence of anyone who will listen — Nelson offered truckers advice on how to minimize the costs of towing and recovery.

He has prepared guidelines for trucking companies who want to ensure their fleets get towed efficiently and most cost-effectively. And the tips range from things you can do when you’re actually spec’ing your vehicles to business practices that will ensure prompt and professional service when the time to tow arrives.

Chief among those business tips is driving the lanes that your trucks will be traveling to establish relationships with the tow-truck companies all along those routes. Also, he says, establish credit arrangements with those companies so when it’s time to recover a vehicle, the tow-truck company will be willing to send out their man. Get to know their equipment inventories, including what sorts of services they might not be able to deliver on a moment’s notice, and don’t forget to get reference checks.

“Build your relationships now,” Nelson says. “And live up to your end of the credit bargain.

“Remember, a professional tow operator can be your eyes and ears at the scene of an incident.”

It’s good to have them pulling for you.