EE Meets Utility Pole for Breakfast

HireFire01 · August 2003

The other morning one of our ee's wrapped a company truck around a utility pole. The truck hit on the passenger's side, where another employee was seated. Thankfully she is okay, but will be out of work for a while. The driver just had minor bruises and is back to work (still complaining of bad headacheds). During the investigation, all he could say was, "I can't remember anything". We interrogated him for at least an hour, but he was very good at not answering any of our questions. We've also spoken to the passenger, and she can't remember much, other than the pole smashing through her window.

The utility pole he hit was only 20 feet from the stop sign he turned left from. How he totaled a 30K truck within such a short distance is a mystery to everyone. No witnesses, plus he passed his D&A test. At this point, it does not appear that there was any type of mechanical failure, as the truck was brand new.

What level of discipline do you feel this employee should receive?

Don D · August 2003

Whatever the discipline, it should not be based at all on the value of the new truck, the distance of the pole from the stop sign or your intuition that he is conveniently not recalling the event. None of those is relevant to your discipline policy. Either he was negligent or he was not. Either the police report will lead you to that conclusion or it will not. Apply the same discipline you would if someone damaged other company property such as while driving a forklift or not observing safety policy causing a mechanical breakdown or product damage. If your policy doesn't include specific consequences for vehicle damage, I don't think it's wise to try and craft some policy now to address this incident. Don't overlook your need to ask him if there is any medical issue that may have caused him to operate the vehicle negligently or momentarily loose control of the vehicle. I would also get a recommended action from the property/casualty insurance agent/rep.

ray a · August 2003

Don, I'm not challenging your response, but couldn't asking about medical problems cause ADA problems? I gave a similar reply a few months ago on another thread, and was challenged on it. I felt the medical angle was valid because it could prove the ee was not culpable. And, that is a possibility in a scenerio such as this one. But, when I researched it at the time, I realized my challenger had a good point.

Balloonman · August 2003

Discipline the action, not the outcome. New truck, old truck does not matter. However something you may consider is sending those with a chargable accident to a defensive driving course.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Ettelok · August 2003

What did the police report say? Surely he would be cited for reckless driving or failure to control his vehicle or something like that. If so, you would have solid grounds for serious discipline, perhaps even termination for destruction of company property. Is he a bargaining unit employee? Since he appears to be uncooperative, hit him hard with Pre-D charges and I'd bet he'll start explaining things and being more cooperative once he thinks his job is on the line.

moneyman · August 2003

You say that it doesn't "appear" to be mechanical failure because the truck was new. Has the truck been examined yet? Or is is just an assumption that because it is new it must be working properly? I would definitely check out the truck, and perhaps your insurance will be doing that already.

Don D · August 2003

Ray, I don't think there is particular danger in posing a question like, "Chucky, we seem to have eliminated mechanical failure and you haven't indicated that another vehicle came at you out of the blue. Do you think there is perhaps a medically related reason for what happened?" Ray, I don't think we would say, "Look Chucky, is there something wrong with your health that you'd like to reveal to us?" I've often read on the Forum and elsewhere that, when searching for explanations,it is appropriate to explore possibilities, but not disabilities. Did I just coin that?

Pork · August 2003

First thing, we do is suspend the ee pending completion of the investigation! I get all ee's involved to give me a written statement. I get a completed copy of the accident report; which in our state does not normally set blame, and can take up to 10 days before it is ready! If driver is at fault, it is our policy to terminate our employer/employee relationship for the violation of company policy in the negligent destruction of company property. If we can not determine "driver fault", the "tie goes to the employee", who may be issued a strong letter of instruction about his/her personal attention to company business and safe driving, as company business. Given no evidence of wrong doing on the part of the driver, he/she could be released to return to duty and his hours off for the investigation, is granted to the ee at an 8 hour regular rate of pay for all days off. If "at fault" or negligent, we might choose to call the time off as "no pay due" for which the ee would possibly be entitled to UI, which we would deny, but the state would award, and we would (most likely) not appeal, because the burden of proof is"he/she did this damage out of willful and wanton acts and on purpose". This standard is one to loose, so we no longer waste our time on appeal.

New truck / old truck has no bearing, other extenuating information may have some bearing on the total case, but we can only deal with the facts provided by our investigation, which is normally done by me, as directed on a case by case basis by the General Manager. It works for us, the suspension is the key, which gives you the time necessary to develop the companies' position and a logical step on discipline!

Good Luck! PORK

HireFire01 · August 2003

By the way, in case any of you were interested, here is the final outcome on this case, decided by our discipline committee.

The employee will have to attend a one day driving improvement course held by Triple A, in addition to serving a one day suspesion, with a strong written warning in his file.

Thanks for all the input!

EE Meets Utility Pole for Breakfast

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