SPECIAL REPORT
School Districts Minimize Safety Risks with Proper Insurance, Training
By Michelle Fisher
R
isk is part of life for everyone, but it’s also a numbers game for school transportation operations. Te yel- low school bus may be the safest vehicle on the road for schoolchildren, but the fact remains that this
large, hefty vehicle can cause damage when human error occurs. “Every school bus contractor or school district has accidents or
injuries at some time and have to pay for them,” said Jeff Cassell, president of the School Bus Safety Company. “If you operate 50 buses, you are absolutely going to have two to five accidents ev- ery year. Once you get bigger, you’ll have more. It’s the law of large numbers. You can’t just ignore it — you have to deal with it.” In student transportation departments, he explained, risk
management falls into four categories: safety, risk financing, in- surance and claims. Transportation and business managers must always consider insurance deductibles and include the estimated cost in their budget, said Cassell, who was formerly vice president of corporate risk management for Laidlaw. While vehicle accidents may be the No. 1 risk, he added, managers
also need to consider other liabilities such as worker’s compensation claims and the cost of repairs to their own vehicles. During his own company’s school bus driver training programs, he has found that most of the participants cannot define what safety actually means. “Te definition is freedom from risk. If you’re free from risk,
then you’re safe and not harmed,” he said. “Only 1 percent of school bus accidents are caused by unsafe conditions and the rest by unsafe behaviors, like following too closely, speeding…I change people’s behavior so they have fewer accidents.” Patrick Willi of School Training Solutions (STS) echoed that
regular training helps bus drivers to avoid unsafe behavior and minimize risk, which is why STS training combines online courses
38 School Transportation News Magazine May 2012
with time in the classroom and on the road. “Tese courses look at real-world examples. We will take a high-
profile accident and present techniques that could be used to prevent it in the future. It adds more reality to the training,” said Willi, adding that special emphasis is placed on the loading and un- loading process. “It all pretty much boils down to: Just be aware.”
NOT EVERY RISK CAN BE AVOIDED Aston Henry, supervisor of the Risk Management Department
at Broward County (Fla.) Public Schools, said safety training in his district includes a mandated video course for school bus drivers about bullying, managing behavior and reporting incidents. He stressed that it is important to work with an insurance
broker that has experience with school bus operations. Broward, the sixth-largest district in the nation, is self-insured for the first $300,000 and carries excess coverage of $700,000 for claims be- yond that amount. Essentially, the district is responsible for paying the first $300,000 when a claim is filed, with most claims resulting from crashes. Henry noted that this kind of policy is typical for larger districts like his. “Accidents are one of the major risks because you’re dealing
with a large commercial vehicle with a number of children on it, and their security and safety is at risk,” Henry continued. “Many things go into controlling and minimizing the number of accidents you have: the maintenance of your buses, the health and physical well-being of drivers and being able to control the children.” Michelle A. Silvestro, assistant VP of National Interstate Insurance
in Richfield, Ohio, said the most common liability claims for school buses involve making left turns into oncoming traffic, buses rear- ending other vehicles and student injuries due to slips, trips and falls.
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