Work safe; minimize the damage A crafted mix of philosophy, policy and programs guide Veolia Transportation in safety and risk management By David Hubbard Risk management is the core component of the typical transit services contract, a subject near and dear to companies such as Veolia Transportation involved in safeguarding the employees and assets of their client agencies and managing risk. According to Ken Westbrook, president and chief operating officer, Transit Division, this is an area where all operators want to be successful. “It is the contractor’s responsibility to reduce accidents that lead to workman’s compensation and accident claims, and to provide the necessary insurance and risk management,” he says. “This is all part of the overall cost of the service.” Like most contractors, Veolia is self-insured up to a point. Beyond that, Westbrook says most clients buy insurance to protect against catastrophic loss. “The client’s RFP will usually spell out how much that insurance should be, as well as the limits on that policy,” he says. “Workman’s comp is usually set by the state but the amount in the RFP generally dictates the major responsibilities. It can run anywhere from $10 million to $25 million depending on the contract. I have seen as low as $1 million, but we certainly don’t recommend anything so low.” Veolia says it takes safety and risk management very seriously; to the point the safety and risk management departments are working hand in hand. “Ideally, our goal is to have no claims whatsoever and put the risk management department out of business,” Westbrook says. “But everyone knows that is not reality. We understand we are going to have accidents of one degree or another. Our first priority is to do all we can do to prevent their occurrence. If everyone does their job safely and correctly in a consistent manner, we can greatly reduce the number of accidents that are going to happen, and minimize the damage when they do occur.” From there, Westbrook says the second priority is to ensure everyone is responsive to the causes of particular types of accidents so something similar does not occur. 14
BUSRIDE | MARCH.2014
Every Veolia employee is trained to assess each move and each action for its safety value as standard behavior on the job.
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