Backing into SafetyBacking incidents are a leading cause of property claims for PDRMA members, but not at Lake County Forest Preserve District. The agency requires staff to back in all its vehicles when parking them, so drivers simply pull out when leaving.
“Our backing-incidents dropped from one or two a month to three in the first year of the new policy (2016),” reports Ty Kovach, Executive Director, and the driving force behind the policy and its enforcement, which has nearly 100-percent compliance. Kovach’s dedication in promoting this one vital change is not driven solely by concern for property: He has personal knowledge of a child killed in a backing incident.
“We never had an injury — only equipment and property damage,” he recalls, “but we knew we were at risk for an injury.” Now, the forest preserve is proactive in preventing a serious incident — even off the property. “Although all previous incidents happened on agency property, the Backing Policy applies whenever anyone drives one of our vehicles anywhere. If I’m driving a vehicle to an event at the Marriott in Lincolnshire, I need to back my vehicle into the parking space, unless, because of the parking arrangement, it is unsafe to do so.”
After board approval in January 2016, all staff received the new policy via email along with a full description of the rationale behind it. Department directors then presented and discussed the policy with staff during department meetings. Safety Committee members also were asked to champion the policy throughout the organization.
Since even the best policies fail if not enforced, the agency focused on that aspect with diligence. “Peer pressure and observation,” Kovach notes, “were the fundamentals, and it started with me. Any time I saw a vehicle not backed into a parking space, I brought it to the attention of the department director. Not backing into a parking space when it is safe to do so is a violation of a formal agency policy. The first time is a gentle reminder, the second time is an oral reprimand, and so on.”
Kovach would take pictures of an offending car and its license plate, identify the culprit and bring it up at the next staff meeting, if not sooner. “Since our backing incident rate dropped dramatically almost immediately,” he adds, “everybody could see the results. It didn’t take much effort to gain compliance. Everybody understood our goal was to prevent an injury from happening.”
Not only was there impressive compliance with forest preserve vehicles, but Kovach noticed employees were backing into spots with their private vehicles — a personally satisfying result. Kovach points out that the Center for Disease Control reports some 2,400 children a year are treated for injuries from a backing incident — often in the child’s own driveway.
“Backing into your parking space is a Keystone Safety Habit and is a first step for a bigger shift in an organization’s safety culture,” he concludes. “A backing policy for your organization may help prevent a child, employee or someone else from being injured. It also can improve safety culture, because people will be thinking more of safety and be aware of their surroundings and potential dangers.”
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