Business Practice for Streamlining Workload.

Business Practice for Streamlining Workload.

I was in my company vehicle on company business and had a near-miss incident. It was about 2000 hours  on a cold, windy evening. The roads had patches of compacted snow and ice, and in some areas there was 8-12 inches of snow.

I was approaching one of the icy patches and slowed to about 45 miles per hour.  My right foot began to feather the gas pedal as I hoped to coast through the slippery spot. Just as I hit the ice and snow, an oncoming vehicle did the same at the other end of the icy patch. The ice and snow patch was about 75 yards long.  As the other vehicle approached, the rear of my vehicle started to slide to the ditch on my side of the road.  Then my entire vehicle  started to slide to the ditch. I thought the ditch would be better than hitting the now identifiable white Dodge 4x4 pickup head-on.  My vehicle was sliding sideways as our vehicles passed each other.

I managed to stay out of the ditch and I did not hit the other vehicle. My vehicle made it out of the snow and I slowly brought it back onto the roadway. I think I swore out loud.  As I drove the next mile, I could feel the adrenalin dumping into my body.  All pumped up, and nothing to do but sit there in my car and continue driving.

After conducting business at a rural residence, I headed back to town on the same road I had just been driving on.  As I neared the hazardous area I saw an Isuzu Trooper in front of me, approaching the slick spot. The Isuzu started to slide in the same icy spot where I had nearly wrecked.  There was an oncoming vehicle.  The Isuzu crossed the centerline in front of the oncoming vehicle. I remember thinking to myself, watch carefully Dana, you are going to witness an accident and you will be taking the report.  Fortunately, the Isuzu slid back into the proper lane and the vehicles barely missed each other.

I radioed my dispatcher and asked to have the agency responsible for maintaining the road come out and blade the snow and lay down some sand. I was aware of the other agency’s recent policy change and didn’t think they would respond.  I was right. I was told that the plows would be coming out at 0430 the next morning. That’s wonderful.

A co-worker radioed dispatch and asked for the same assistance on a different road and got the same response.

I was upset about not getting any assistance. Well, I was beyond being upset.

At about 2330 or so, I was dispatched to a traffic accident. I immediately thought of my near-miss. Sure enough, I was being dispatched to an accident at the exact spot. I arrived and saw one vehicle sideways in the middle of the road and another on the east shoulder. They had hit head-on. Both drivers had been wearing their seatbelts and had only minor injuries. Airbags had been deployed. Now I was beyond angry. I felt the accident could have been avoided.

Here is where the title of this blog fits in. The agency responsible for maintaining the road and their new policy played a role in this event. I call their new business practice “Policy Implementation for the Reduction of Departmental Workload.”  Their new policy and practices keep them from maintaining the roads between certain hours. These hours end in mid-afternoon, or in case of an emergency situation, the hours are extended to early evening. Apparently this was not an emergency. I was nearly in an accident, I witnessed a near-miss, and after my shift ended, multiple vehicles went into the ditch at the same spot. My shift ended at 6 am and the plows had not plowed or sanded the road.

So, if you want to streamline your workload, create policies that:  a) limit your business hours, and  b) make other people do your job by passing the buck.

My recommendation for the problem would be to take care of the other agency's business and send them a bill for twice the cost.  It won't happen but other similar situations and billings are going on all the time.

I do understand there are issues related to scheduling and funding, but a public agency does not have the right to refuse service to anyone. I also believe the issue here is not with the equipment operators and employees, it is a management issue from the top.  I never heard of these business practices while I was getting my B.S in Management. It must be an on-the-job training kind of thing.

Drive safely.