Weather or Not

“Should I stay or should I go now?”
— The Clash, 1982

Many a time a truck driver has hummed that famous Clash tune as he rolls down a frosting highway on a dreary February night. Fumbling with the radio, the driver catches the weather girl saying something about a snowstorm up ahead. Over the hood, the flakes blow in faster and heavier and the pavement starts to glaze. The driver slows to a crawl and contemplates the call to dispatch. Should he press on, hoping to weather the storm and stay on schedule? Or park the rig until the worst of Mother Nature passes by?

If I go there will be trouble…

Truck drivers constantly weigh the consequences of continuing through treacherous weather conditions or facing the wrath of head office, and in turn the shipper and receiver, for pulling over and delaying delivery. Usually, the severity of the situation, whether it’s a foggy highway or an ice storm, is a matter of the driver’s perception. After all, six inches of snow in Winnipeg and six inches after a surprise snowfall in North Carolina create two entirely separate operating environments.

You have to teach your drivers how to determine whether it’s safe to travel, says Dennis Pettit, safety and loss prevention advisor for Canadian Freightways in Calgary. They need to know what you expect — when to put on chains and baby it along at 30 kilometres an hour, and when to park the truck entirely.

Pettit acknowledges that fleet managers often feel like they’re at the mercy of customers who don’t want to hear about the sleet in Saskatoon — they want their drops made on schedule. He says many times his drivers have shut down only to see other carriers or owner-operators struggle through. “Customers will sometimes throw that back to us,” Pettit says, “and ask why another one of their shipments from another company got through.”

Clark Wilson, safety manager for Manitoulin Transport in Gore Bay, Ont. says shippers need to be told that the day will come when the driver who takes the risk won’t be so lucky. “We do our best to explain to the shipper that it’s better for everybody involved that the freight get there a little later than have it spread along the road,” he says.

… An’ if I stay it will be double

So then, the driver gets to make the final decision? That’s the case at Manitoulin and Canadian Freightways, two less-than-truckload companies that guarantee their delivery times. “The driver is the captain of the ship, he always makes the call,” Pettit says. “It’s in the contract that bad weather and road closures make the guarantee void. The guarantees only count when we have control over it, and the shipper is made aware of that from the start.”

To avoid any misconception over the range of a driver’s authority, Pettit says the rule at Canadian Freightways is clearly defined in the policy manual, and for good measure, reinforced by the company president.

“The president has to stand in the meetings and tell the drivers to their faces that it really is okay to shut it down if the roads are bad,” says Pettit. “Let’s face it, there’s certain commitments that others (in the company) sometimes make to the customer, and you might have pressure coming from other sides. That’s why it’s important for the president to reinforce his support.”

Bob Gauthier, president of Cornwall, Ont.-based Seaway Express, says his company’s policy is clear: “The driver’s safety is paramount, and he is the one who controls the decision,” he says. “We will not override the decision at any time.”

So come on and let me know…

For Seaway’s system to function properly, the onus for dealing with a demanding customer rides on the shoulders of fleet management, Gauthier says. “We ask that the driver never get involved with the customer,” he says. “As far as we’re concerned, (the fleet’s management is) trained to explain to the customer what the policy is. It’s not up to the driver to explain (the policy on our behalf).”

A business relationship that goes beyond the simple transfer of goods and payments helps quell such conflicts, says André Bouchard, traffic manager for Transport Guy Bourassa in St-Jean-sur Richelieu, Que. Without a written clause for weather-delayed shipments built into the contract, Bouchard says gaining the customer’s trust is paramount for his company, which also operates in LTL and pledges guaranteed delivery. With a strong service history, shippers will have no reason to doubt you if you have to shut the trucks down once in a while, he adds.

However, if customer pressure continues, and drivers are routinely hassled at the loading dock for opting on the side of caution, it may be time to review that freight contract, Wilson suggests, adding that shippers, and in turn carriers, who fail to make safety a priority are playing a dangerous game. “I honestly believe that any reasonable person would understand it’s ridiculous to put the freight and driver at risk just to meet a time schedule,” he says.

These conflicts can be prevented from the start if carriers train sales staff and management to communicate with the customer, advises Gauthier. He says it should be explained at contract time that safety and guaranteed delivery are sometimes not entirely interchangeable.

“We’re able to uphold the safety standards we do because we say no,” he says. “Customers have to be made to realize that it’s the (trucking companies) that don’t know how to say no that sometimes get into trouble.”