Snow Business, February 2016
the staking and request changes be made if they deem it insufficient or if stake placement would hinder removal efforts Dedicated resources Assigning subcontractors to the site for the season allows us to better hold them responsible in the event of damage Companies who have multiple subcontractors servicing a site throughout the winter open themselves up to the possibility of being unable to identify who caused the damage particularly if the damage isnt discovered until the end of the season If you cant identify who was responsible for the damage you cant hold them accountable therefore you will be on the hook for the damages Dont hide damage Whether you knock down a telephone pole or bump into a stop sign its important to be proactive with your customer and let them know the damage has occurred We find that if you tell them before they discover it they will trust you and wont make assumptions as to what happened If they start finding damage that belongs to you soon the customer wont believe anything you tell them Earning that trust and respect is critical Reporting processes We require our subs and employees to report damage the moment it occurs using our detailed internal incident report Site maps We have site maps for every job we service which highlights these types of hazards Creating the maps not only aids in quality control by knowing the person servicing the site has those details and service instructions but it also can help head off damage Train train train In my experience every time we have a problem it comes from breaking the rule of eyes in the direction of travel If youre backing up you need to look behind you Accidents happen but consistent repetitive training on this elementary concept can hopefully minimize the number of them Quality control Evaluate your subs in action making sure that if they are being careless or causing damage that you head it off to prevent a bigger accident from happening If we think someone is trainable we will work with them to get up to par but if we think someone is lackadaisical or just doesnt care to do the job properly we want to let them go as quickly as possible In the end it is our name and our reputation at stake We have to be proactive and ensure weve placed as many safeguards as possible to ensure not only our customers safety but also the safety of our employees and subcontractors working on our behalf Rick Kier CSP is president of Pro Scapes in Jamesville NY He is a founding member of SIMA and a member of the Snow Business Editorial Advisory Committee Contact him at rick@ proscapes com
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