Do You Have Enough Coverage?
Since I believe that the three most effective methods of communication
are telegraph, telephone and tell-a-harvester, (that is really an old,
bad, joke) I assume that you have heard and discussed the unfortunate
truck/pickup collision that resulted in a fire in the passenger
compartment of the pickup. The claim was not with one of our insured
clients, so the details are hearsay. Nevertheless, the question has got to
pop up—"If this claim were against me, do I have sufficient
insurance to pay it in full?"
We have tried to highlight our program emphasis on umbrellas/excess
liability limits. For little more than the cost of liability insurance on
one truck, you can add a second MILLION dollars of liability protection.
As they say on the TV Infomercials, operators are standing by.
Wanted: Drivers List
We have extended the deadline for reporting your driving employees
without penalty to June 10. We must have a list of your current employees
who drive your vehicles. That list must include their driver’s license
number, the state in which the license was issued, and their birth date.
If the employee is a non-US employee, and you just got them a CDL within
the past month, please indicate that fact on the driver’s list report.
We treat this record differently than records that have driving history.
If we do not receive the driver’s list by June 10, 2008, a surcharge
will be applied to the auto insurance portion of your custom harvest
insurance policy.
Duct tape is like "The Force". It has a light
side and a dark side,
and it holds the universe together.
Intersection Ahead
The most dangerous place you can go in any vehicle is the nearest
intersection. One out of every three accidents occurs at an intersection.
The problem is the right-of-way. As long as everyone know the rules,
agrees on who has the right-of-way and grants it courteously, you are
safe.
The first rule about the right-of-way is that you can never take it for
granted. Even if you are entitled to proceed according to the rules,
someone may claim the right-of-way as you’re sailing through the
intersection. If you stubbornly insist on your way, you will add your name
to the long list of people who wound up "dead right." The bottom
line: Be prepared to yield no matter who is entitled to the
right-of-way.
Basic rules:
 | Yield to a vehicle that is already in the intersection when you
reach it. |
| If two vehicles reach the intersection at the same time, the one of
the left should yield to the one on the right. |
| Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. |
| At four-way stop signs, yield to the vehicles that got there before
you arrived |
| When making left turns, yield to oncoming cars and pedestrians. |
As you start to enter an intersection, look to the left. Then look to
the right and, once again, look to the left. Sooner or later, you will
have to deal with a vehicle that shouldn’t be there but is. If you see
it in time, you’re all right.
Intersections are a high-risk proposition. Gravel road intersections
add the danger of a loose stopping surface which will lengthen the
distance travelled before your vehicle comes to a stop. Make slow, safe
navigation of intersections a priority this year.
If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again,
it was probably a wise investment.
Safety Awards
What a mess!! The people we hired to do the safety award mailing must
not have gotten enough sleep before they did our mailing. Somehow,
year-plates were not placed in the proper envelop and many of you got
someone else’s plate. Oh Well! Use the plate that you received—do not
return it. If you were loss free last year and did not get a plate, then
someone else has yours. Please call us, and we will rush a new plate to
you today. Safety Plaques that were not presented at the safety meetings
are being mailed, by our staff, today. If you were loss free last year,
and don’t receive a plaque soon, again, please call us – 800-537-2594.
Newsmakers
It is always exciting and usually surprising to find pictures and
quotes from one of my friends in the newspaper. Two harvester friends were
recently featured in local newspapers. The Hutchinson Daily News did a
super 2 page article about Frederick Harvesting of Alden, KS. Lots of
interesting background on the operation and on the cost of harvesting was
included in the write-up.
A few weeks ago I was in Pierre, SD and picked up the paper. Local
truckers had staged a rally there at the State Capitol. Included in those
quoted was a rather profound discussion of fuel prices for harvesters by
Ken Brull.
Never turn down the opportunity to be in print. Every time a harvester
can tell his story, it makes it better for the industry, especially this
year as we face the uncertainty of skyrocketing energy prices.
Two Norwegians are drinking in a bar. Ole says,
"Did you know that lions have
sex 10 to 15 times a night?" "Curses," says Sven. "I
just joined the Elks!"
It Looks Like Hail
From an old suggestion by Brent Johnson: When you enter a town, scout
out all the places that have canopies. If hail is reported in the area,
move your pickups under the safety of the canopy. If you are in the field
and it begins to hail, face the back end of the truck into the wind, roll
off the tarp, and raise the bed. Your truck cab, the most easily damaged
area, will be protected. If your trucks are near your campers, surround
your camper with the trucks. The trucks will break up the wind flow and
help keep your camper sitting with the dirty side down.
Which beer is your favorite? – the fifth one!
But I do like the 6th one also—that’s the
one that makes me handsome!
And then there’s the 8th beer—it has a
name—Karaoke.
Convoy
Do your bit for safety and public relations—keep plenty of distance
between each vehicle in the convoy. Several suggestions: if you can read
the license plate on the vehicle in front of you—you are too close. You
should be able to see the color, but nothing else. Or pick a sign ahead of
you—when the truck in front of you passes the sign, count to 4—you
should be passing that sign if your spacing is correct.
Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the
windshield.
Losses
Overcorrection is a rookie mistake. When an inattentive driver lets the
steering tire get off the road and suddenly tries to return to the road, a
rollover often results. Do not try to return to the road until the truck
speed is decreased enough to allow careful, safe return to the hard
surface. This rollover will cost over $300,000—it took 4 wreckers just
to get the combine, truck and trailer back on wheels.
The following accidents have been reported in the past 3 weeks. Please
remember to hold a safety meeting this week and discuss defensive driving,
company speed limits and getting enough sleep.
| Hail storm near Pratt (they have had one every other night) damaged
2 combines, a service truck and a camper trailer |
| Trailer tire blow-out and a piece of tire struck a passing boat
(only in Florida!) |
| Turning rollover—truck was going too fast, load shifted during
turn and caused truck to roll |
| Soft shoulder rollover. Truck coming out of field, did not turn wide
enough |
| Truck entering field, struck concrete culvert and knocked front axle
from mountings |
| Tornado near Hoxie, destroyed shed which fell on chopper header.
Unable to adjust until we can get the shed off of the equipment. |
| Insured getting repair work done on truck, driving truck into shop
and hit the door of the repair building |
| Hail damaged 2 vehicles |
Give safety a boost. Set a good example for your employees. Hold a
safety meeting. Use the CD that we gave you and talk about backing up.
Above all else, be careful. You are harvesting the food for the world.
Previous Newsletters:
May 6, 2008
