Incident Management Executive Overview

Presented to

The 1999 ITE Conference

by 

Ted Smith (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) and John O’Laughlin (Seattle, Washington)

Incident Management (IM) programs have been developed in nearly every urban area and in most states. Due to a variety of impacts such as political pressure, budget restraints, institutional resistance, and lack of a clear mandate, programs have a wide range of styles and success rates.

Ted Smith, the recently retired manager of the Illinois DOT IM program and I have worked with several states on IM issues. We have found that there are some states with very good parts of an overall program, but not one state with all the parts. We have found good equipment, motivated personnel, good procedures, appropriate laws, and good leadership, but not all in the same state at the same time. We have also found a number of challenges yet to be overcome in most programs.

To help senior managers get a better feel for what is occurring in the IM field, we have gathered information on the programs and taken an objective look at several of them to see how they really work. We have been totally honest in our comments in the hopes it will help start an open dialog for future improvements.

This briefing paper is a summary of the Executive Overview that was developed for the Director of DOT and Chief of State Police level managers who are key to the success of IM programs. Without their understanding and support, programs will not reach their potential.

[ Service Patrols ]  [ 24 Hour Incident Response ] [ Interagency Agreements ]
[ Reduced Liability for Incident Management ]  [ Quick Clearance Policies ]  [ Multiple Agency Training ]
[ Agency Program Evaluation ]  [ Legislative or Administrative Actions ]
[ Incident Command ]  [ Agency Leadership ]  

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Service patrols are universally accepted as the most effective tools for IM. From our experience, the most successful are operated with DOT employees, have multi-purpose vehicles with a variety of safety equipment including arrow boards or variable message boards. They double as incident response vehicles for collisions, spills and investigations. They have direct police radio contact and operate out of the TOC if there is one. There is coverage in major cities 24 hours a day or they have an on call program for nights and weekends. They are successful in becoming a true part of the incident management decision making process at incident sites.

AVL systems can allow you to manage these assets better. Dispatching, accounting for their time, knowing their locations, and being able to review this information should there be a complaint has helped significantly. As this technology becomes less expensive, it will be an even better investment.

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Coverage and response during peak traffic periods is normally very good. During off peak hours and weekends, response may be very slow by DOT personnel. In highly congested cities, this may be when the most severe incidents occur and they may impact peak traffic if not handled properly. Inconsistent response can contribute to secondary crashes, decreased trust from other response agencies, increased liability, and negative media coverage.

Inconsistent response also pertains to ITS applications. If you operate your VMS and HAR systems effectively only during peak periods, the public will soon become disenchanted with poor service during non-peak hours. If systems are continuously used for non-emergency information such as upcoming construction closures or safety messages, they will lose their effectiveness.

The urban areas are not the only places needing response services from DOT. The best programs have some rural maintenance personnel on call with take home vehicles equipped for most contingencies. During the workday, they are part of the maintenance program but may respond quickly to any blocking incidents the police cannot handle alone. They should have pagers, cell phones, and be well trained. They should participate in multi-agency training whenever possible. Incident response must be their priority when they are needed.

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Probably the most important is an open roads policy published by the state police and state DOT. If cities respond as part of their regular duties to the freeways, they should also be part of the agreement. Response protocols should also be covered between different agencies. For example, some service patrol programs are not allowed to clear accident vehicles from roadways until a police officer arrives while others are. Mutual aid agreements are also important to share resources and save time. For example, equipment in a construction zone should be available to help clear roadways and this agreement should be set up at the start of construction.

Media partnerships and agreements are also very important. Some areas have radio contact with media pilots, get help with managing queues, and share cameras. Generally, the closer you work with them, the better the relationship, and the stronger your program will be.

None of these solutions are any good unless the agreements are known by all employees and in some cases, the public. What good is a quick clearance law if the public is not aware of it? I recently read an open roads agreement that had been signed by agency directors six months earlier. Several state police officers in attendance had never heard of it. In one state, which has a "Steer it Clear it" law, officers we talked to were not aware of it.

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Most States are reluctant to be aggressive about clearing roadways. Those that are, save millions in lost time for the public and face the same or even less litigation than the others.

Some of the biggest cases pending have to do with secondary crashes where deaths occurred in the queue behind previous incidents. Make sure you are getting the traffic control to these scenes quickly and it is focused on protecting the queue. In some of our workshops, responders have indicated there is nothing you can do about secondary crashes so they do nothing to protect the queue. That can be a serious problem for your agency when serious secondary crashes occur. This approach also indicates the lack of training that other responders have conducted for response issues.

Rarely has a state ever paid even small amounts for quick clearance. By the way, the American Trucking Association, American Automobile Association, and the North American Insurance Institute either support or are neutral on aggressive clearance. We have found that doing the job aggressively while using good common sense is better, liability wise, than being indecisive and worrying about liability. Push, pull, or drag it off. Take pictures before and after removal. All IM or service patrol trucks should have 35 MM cameras for this purpose and should also take pictures of any potential liability issues, (roadway edges, signing, roadway damage, etc.) Some carry the disposable cameras and do not develop the film unless it is needed. When it is, they let the requestor pay for development.

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Policy or law, quick clearance is a very good tool. By making it mandatory that you must get out of the road when in a minor collision, you prevent further delays and collisions. This also sends a message to the responders that clearance is a priority.

The policy should give clear guidance on how to handle truck wrecks. Cargo removal can take hours if not handled properly. It is your road and not the trucking companies’. If possible, they should take part in the process, but it is a DOT responsibility to focus on quick clearance by any reasonable means. Just to be clear, it is DOT not the police who should have the say so on clearance. The police enforce and investigate; the DOT operates, maintains and repairs. Once the lanes are cleared, the trucking company can assume responsibility for remaining clearance needs as long as it won’t cause significant traffic impact.

Use your equipment, towing equipment or contracted equipment, but, don’t wait. Delays are too costly and can be avoided. Be part of the decision making process on scene for you are the only agency that represents the interests of the motorist caught in the queue.

If you are told it is working well, have someone evaluate the records and make sure. Sometimes certain individuals get it done quickly and we think everyone is doing the same. Not true. I know of areas where serious incidents may be cleared by one key responder in 60 to 90 minutes while others will take 5 to 7 hours. Some of the reasons; Do you have a publish goal for clearance times? Do you regularly evaluate closures looking for ways to reduce the time they take? Have you looked at how ITS and other tools have shortened (or maybe lengthened) clearance times?

Just as an example, total station systems have been credited with reducing the time it takes to investigate fatal or criminal crashes. Not always true. It takes time to get them to the site and 20 minutes to set them up. Then, they often measure 5 to 10 times the points they used to. It is my personal observation and that of several other police officials, that total station does not reduce clearance time in most cases. It does allow them to produce better diagrams which are seldom used in a court of law. One study indicted less than 20% of criminal investigations for accidents are ever used in court. Some police go through the entire investigative process even if they know it won’t be a criminal case!!

A past FHWA study indicated quick clearance is the most effective means of reducing congestion. I totally agree. Do what you can to push for improvement by police, fire and towing. Hopefully, you won’t get to the point that some states have where the media is chastising them continuously for poor management of incidents.

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The NHI Incident Management workshops are a good opportunity to gage the amount of training that is conducted with other agencies. In one we recently conducted, police and fire responders were openly amazed at what DOT had to offer. They had no idea what a TOC was or what it did. They had never considered having DOT participate in the exercises they regularly have with other response agencies. To be truly effective in IM, these training sessions are necessary. Talk to your police agencies and make sure they know you want to participate. Get involved in the emergency management program in your county which is responsible for disaster preparedness. They are a great source of multiple agency training opportunities.

Another common response is the agencies have never trained for highway emergencies with each other. Routine accidents block our roadways everyday, yet, they are not handled with a systemic approach, Truthfully, most responders have given it little thought. It is a come as you are, park where you want, and do as we must approach. A little work in this area with, a commitment to follow up in their agencies, can vastly improve the clearance times and reduce congestion. When major events occur, such as overturned tanker trucks, you really find out who is well prepared, and who isn’t.

Think back at accident scenes you have driven past and see if you recall seeing responders standing around, no traffic control, vehicles blocking lanes unnecessarily, and an appearance of a general lack of organization. If so, you are, unfortunately, not alone.

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This can take many forms, but for our purposes, it is focused on a few key issues. Are you conducting training for personnel that must respond to emergencies on a regular basis? Is the training meaningful? Are your resources and those of other key agencies deployed properly? On two occasions state police had printouts of response times that showed in one area they took twice as long to respond as other areas. As far as we could determine, they have not looked into changing zone lines or moving personnel to correct this disparity.

From a DOT perspective, is your response times on weekends acceptable? Police often say its easy to get help from DOT on weekdays but when needed at night or on weekends, forget it. Take a look at this and it may save you future embarrassment.

Good equipment must be readily available to responders. Does a supervisor have to go unlock a shop for employees to have access to needed resources? Have you set standards? As part of one states efforts, they got the state police to agree to a goal of two hours maximum lane closures for criminal traffic investigations. Hopefully you have or are working toward an agreement like this.

Always include a major incident review in this process. If there is a school shooting that wounds one, everyone evaluates it for prevention and response in the future. We usually don’t do a good job of this on major transportation emergencies on our highways.

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We have discussed quick clearance issues already. Liability exemptions or reductions to facilitate quick clearance of load materials and trucks gives responders the authority needed to act decisively. This can be accomplished through policy, but, some agencies want this placed in law.

Additional effort is needed in every state for updating towing regulations. Although this is primarily a police issue, DOT can play a significant role. Regulations for large tow trucks were developed over 30 years ago. At that time, legal truck weights were much lighter than today. The best tow trucks available were rated for 25 tons. Now rotator and other trucks have 40 to 60 ton capacity, yet they are on rotation lists with older 25 ton units. There is little incentive for a towing company to spend $400,000 on a new rotator when he has alternate calls with other companies with old trucks.

One state has resolved the problem by having DOT call for a rotator for all overturned, blocking trucks. They also allow the towing company to charge a fair price ($500.00 per hour) for this equipment. As a result, there are now five rotators in that area available to clear roads quickly. Tow bills using older trucks that take longer and require more personnel are often several thousand dollars. Consequently, the trucking company pays more and the road stays closed. The best way to resolve this is to try and get the state police to approve a new recovery class of tow with a minimum of 40 tons. Old tows would still pick up disabled trucks, but, they would not be used to upright overturned trucks blocking roadways.

One state DOT refused to grant a weight waiver to allow a 60 ton rotator tow truck to clear truck wrecks. This equipment can do this task in minutes where regular big tow trucks often take hours. Use your authority to make it work instead of preventing it from happening.

INCIDENT COMMAND

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Incident command on state highways can be confusing when a criminal act takes place. Some state police agencies do not investigate other than traffic crimes. Extremely long closures have taken place when local police have conducted investigations. Although this is not necessarily a legislation issue, push for an incident management statute if one doesn’t exist. States should has a written agreement with the police and sheriffs association outlining how these investigations will be conducted to reduce confusion and delays.

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Clearance times can be dramatically improved for major collisions. A plan, training, multiple agency commitment, and resources are required. Police can prioritize tasks, use new technology, and demonstrate an urgency to get it cleared up. DOT can send their best, have equipment and supplies readily available, prioritize tasks, and operate with a sense of urgency.

Investigative times can also be reduced. A new program called photogrammetry is being used in at least 4 states that allows measurements and diagramming to be done strictly from photographs. In one state, the technical investigator using this along with the right priorities was able to complete a criminal crash investigation in 40 minutes. One group of 32 investigators worked on priorities on scene and determined there were only 4 tasks that had to be completed with the lanes blocked. We also ask that the lanes not be closed until they are totally prepared to do the investigation in a timely manner. That means traffic control is in place, the tools and personnel needed are on scene, poised to work quickly, and everyone is focused on priority tasks.

One possible solution; ask the police to send only their very best to investigations blocking major roadways. The Chicago Bulls wouldn’t sit Michael Jordan on the bench in a critical game, the police should use the same approach. It is really frustrating and embarrassing to have investigators reading the directions to the total station in the middle of a blocked freeway.

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In every NHI class, employees want to know what their leaders want, will they will be supported, and what actions they are allowed to take. They are reluctant to do what is necessary due to a lack of guidance. Provide it to them in writing and be supportive when they are trying to make improvements. Hype the successes and give them positive feedback.

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Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts. If you need further information, please feel free to contact us.

• Ted Smith (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) (954) 714-8081, e-mail   smithar@pbworld.com
• John O’Laughlin (Seattle, Washington) (206) 382-5265, e-mail olaughlin@pbworld.com
  

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