Casey Burrows of Burrows Garage & Wrecker Service (www.burrowstowing. com) in Pendleton, KY, related a story about his grandfather, also a tower: “Years ago my grandfather was signaled to pull around at a nearby weigh station. He had failed to attach his tow lights on the towed vehicle. The DOT officer in no uncertain terms informed my grandfather that he would not leave until the tow lights were on that truck. His words were, ‘Five feet or five hundred miles, you have got to have tow lights!’… As simple as it may sound, we still practice that crotchety old officer’s requirement!”

That requirement may have saved some lives along the way. As all responders know, the roadside is a dangerous place, but especially for tow truck operators. Angela Roper, former tower and current owner of Nationwide Safety Consulting (see www.respondersafety.com/towing.aspx), said that by the third week of 2012 the towing industry had tallied five line-of-duty deaths and four nearmisses. “Considering our average in the towing industry is 60 to 70 per year, the odds are not in our favor at this point,” said Roper.

Roper directs a critical question to all owners, towers, and office personnel: “What are you going to do to help control these numbers in your company this year?” According to Terry Humelsine, senior lead instructor at Wreck- Master (www.wreckmaster.com), “The safest operator is one who has had the training, gained the knowledge, learned the skills, and has a thorough understanding of the importance of using each of them wisely every day.”

Safe Positioning
Upon arriving on scene, the operator’s first order of business is, of course, to meet the customer. “Like most towers, looking out for the wellbeing of the operator of the disabled vehicle is a high priority of ours,” said Burrows. “It has even been said that their safety is ultimately our responsibility.” Because of this, Burrows continued, the task of protecting the motorist — who is often standing in the travel lanes beside their driver’s door when the tow truck arrives — can be quite challenging.

Positioning the tow vehicle is incredibly important, said Humelsine. “You may wish to consider parking the service provider’s truck behind the disabled vehicle at a five- to eightdegree angle similar to law enforcement,” he explained. “In this way the service provider’s vehicle is being used as a ‘blocker’ to give, at most, only a very limited amount of protection.”

When meeting the customer, Burrows approaches from the curbside of his vehicle and asks the customer to join him in a safe area. “This is where I introduce myself and ensure that I have all of the information needed to perform my duties,” explained Burrows. “I will always suggest that [the customer] take refuge in my warm (or cool) tow truck cab and watch through my rearview camera as I work on their vehicle.”

Sometimes the customer is receptive to Burrows’ recommendations. However, if the customer says no, Burrows insists that the customer stay on the curbside of his or her vehicle. “If they choose not to wait seat-belted in my truck,” said Burrows, “I prefer that they remain behind the guardrail or barrier.”

Signs & Signals
To keep the towing or recovery operation moving along smoothly, operators can take advantage of a variety of safety and signaling devices.

Jack Sullivan, director of training at the Emergency Responder Safety Institute in Richmond, VA, lists some of the basic safety equipment:

1. Emergency warning lights

2. Road cones (28” to 36” high; orange with reflective bands)

3. Warning signs (48”x 48” preferably)

4. Flares (where their use is permitted)

5. High-visibility personal protective equipment for each worker (ANSI- compliant vest, jacket or coveralls)

6. Reflective markings on the rear and sides of the tow truck.

Operators should place warning signs ahead of the work area to warn approaching motorists, said Sullivan. In addition, “cones and flares should then be used in a taper fashion behind the work area to move approaching vehicles away from the tow truck and work area,” he said.

“Drivers should be wearing highvisibility gear at all times while working near moving traffic,” said Sullivan. If work conditions require additional protection, operators should request police assistance or a safety service patrol.

Humelsine added an important note: Operators need to be armed with safety knowledge in addition to the proper safety equipment. “Many operators simply do not know what many may consider as minimal information for towing,” explained Humelsine. This information includes legal axle weights, gross vehicle weight, and/or gross combination weight limits, length, width, and height limits.

Controls & Brakes
At Burrows Wrecker, all of the towing vehicles are equipped with controls that allow the operator to do his or her job without stepping to the left side of the vehicle. “As designed by the manufacturer, the standard location of the manual controls is on the left side,” said Burrows. “On our latest units, we stipulated that the manual controls must be placed on the right side.” Therefore, if the electronic system fails, the operator isn’t exposed to the traffic side of the vehicle.

Burrows likes to tinker with his vehicles to boost their safety characteristics. One of his interests is the braking system. For several years Burrows has been “tapping into” the air-brake systems on disabled airbrake- equipped vehicles in order to operate the casualty’s service brakes from the wrecker.

“I have assembled a few air fittings and short hoses in order to make this process easier,” said Burrows. On most vehicles, he noted, fewer than five additional minutes are required to enable the brake system. “We are gradually implementing this process with all of our operators,” said Burrows, explaining that this procedure decreases stopping distance and makes for a safer towing combination.

Lighting Up
Another of Burrows’ special modifications involves the light bar. “I have wired one of our tow light bars so that when an extra wire in the light cord is energized, an LED strobe in the bar will flash a quad flash pattern,” said Burrows. By triggering this special flash pattern early in the hookup process, the operator ensures that oncoming drivers take notice of what’s happening on the shoulder.

The use of lights as roadside warning devices “is permissible and recommended in most areas throughout North America,” noted Humelsine. “However, the use of rotating or flashing lights alone is insufficient when performing a roadside service.”

Humelsine recommended that the operator use additional warning devices. Towers looking for more information can check out the drivers’ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) handbook and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) handbook.

All lights on the carrier and truck should be in proper working order at all times, noted Humelsine. “Information on the legal and proper use of those lights, especially those rotating and/or flashing lights, can be obtained from your municipal, county, state, or provincial law enforcement agency.”

Additional information related to lighting, its candlepower, and its proper use may be obtained from your state’s department of transportation, continued Humelsine. That information will include the permissible color and any optional colors for the use of those rotating and or flashing lights, when they are to be displayed, and when they are forbidden.

LEDs Are In
Sullivan points to LED-driven emergency lighting products as a good example of rapidly developing technology that improves safety for towers. However, he noted, LED lights also have their drawbacks. “We’re hearing complaints from drivers about glare from the new light bars,” he said, “especially at night.”

Operators should be familiar with their safety light bars and make use of high-power/low-power switches, explained Sullivan. “The low-power setting should be used at night, to reduce the glare from the emergency lights that often prevents approaching drivers from being able to see operators working near their trucks or the disabled vehicle.”

Sullivan said that one available product — the Federal Smart Siren Control Panel — features a low-power button on the bottom left of the device. Other light-bar control devices have a similar setting.

Sullivan also cautioned operators to make sure their rear-facing work lights don’t blind oncoming drivers. “This is especially evident with flatbeds and rollbacks when their rear platform is raised,” said Sullivan. “Often the work lights are shining right at oncoming drivers, and late at night this can cause the drivers to lose their night vision.” As a result, oncoming drivers can’t see the tow operators on the side of the road.

The remedy? Operators should tilt the work lights down, said Sullivan, so the lights shine on the work area and not just point backward at oncoming drivers.

Safety Planning
“Do you have a 2012 safety plan for your business?” asked Roper. Creating a written plan forces you to consider all of your requirements and options when protecting your operators and customers from harm.

Roper outlined some of the critical elements of a safety plan: First, she noted that towers need to update their employee policies to include information from safety meetings, drug policies, CSA (Comprehensive Safety Analysis) 2010, and training, among other things.

“How about all of your equipment?” continued Roper. “Have you given it a good look? Now, I know you might say the drivers do pre-trips and it would be covered in there. Really? Maybe it’s time to go truck to truck, clean out the tool boxes, and see just what lives in there! Often in our busy everyday towing, we check off our pre-trip and don’t really check out everything on our trucks.”

Paper Protection
If you hate paperwork, look at it as something that helps maintain good safety in the workplace. “Safety isn’t just to be learned in trainings we attend or seminars,” said Roper. “It needs to start in the office.” She explained that paperwork is “the best way to protect you and everyone else. Make sure your policies cover everything: trucks, equipment, pre-trips, and meetings.”

Roper has appeared as an expert witness in several court cases where, she said, “paperwork saved the company.”

“Covering your hiney is always a good practice, as many of you know,” said Roper. “The practice starts with paperwork and ends with the drivers. It is their hiney on the line every day out there.” Roper said that these guidelines apply even to companies that have only two tow trucks and tow a hundred cars a year.

Good policies and procedures are the basis for a safe business, said Roper, and follow-up is the key. Attaboys such as driver incentives and safety awards are a great way to increase productivity and morale among your employees, she said.

“I’ve heard it said many times that knowledge is power,” said Humelsine. “That much is true. However, it is most true only if it is safely and wisely used.”

Product photos courtesy of Jack Sullivan, CSP, CFPS, Director of Training, Emergency Responder Safety Institute, and W. Chris Anderson, Sales Manager, TowMate, LLC, Rogers, AR