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2008-2009 NYSED Refresher pre-trip and post-trip: No Excuses 1

Pre-trip and Post-trip: No Excuses

2008-2009 New York State Education

Department Driver and Attendant

Refresher

Instructor Notes: Be sure to read the Lesson Plan and the Background Information in your PDS manual in preparation for teaching. •Explain the reason for the refresher title – no excuses. These inspections are not complicated or influenced by anyone other than the drivers and attendants themselves. It’s not like defensive driving where you have to compensate for the actions of others. If you don’t do an inspection, it’s because you chose not to.•You can also highlight the fact that all drivers and attendants in New York State are receiving this same instruction. If all of us can get together and commit to doing these inspections properly, children’s lives will be saved and no drivers or attendants will lose their jobs because of poorly done or skipped inspections. The first part of this lesson works to develop this sense of shared mission.

Group Activity: Pass out the Inspection Crossword to drivers and attendants as they enter the classroom and make sure they have something to write with for this and other activities. Encourage them to begin working on the crossword and let them know that it is OK to work together – this is not a test.

Printed Overheads: If you are printing these pages for use on an overhead projection, there are comments at the bottom of the Notes Pages for specific instructions that differ from the use of computer projection. For slides that have bulleted lists enter one point at a time, use progressive disclosure to achieve the same effect.

These “Notes Pages” are not meant as a script, but to provide the intended background material for you to put into your own words and share through the lens of your own experience. The Background material in the PDS manual includes more detail on some of these topics.


Pretrip and Postrip Refresher 2

Playing the odds

20 children will die in school bus accidents in the US this yearYour yearly odds are 1 in 27,500 – pretty safeIn your 100 bus fleet, odds are 1 death every 275 yearsBut, on average, in New York State, 2 childrenwill be killed each yearWho is your team? Who matters? You, your fleet, your state, all school bus drivers, all children?

Instructor Notes: Use this slide to talk frankly about the odds. In fact, most bus drivers will not be involved in a fatal accident. Even so, you can stress how the loss of a classmate, family member, co-worker, or friend can be devastating – you might want to offer a personal or local example – it doesn’t have to be school bus related.•20 children a year includes an average of about 13 killed in the loading zone and 7 killed as bus passengers in crashes. These numbers fluctuate by as much as 100 percent annually because the numbers are so small that a single occurrence like the Huntsville, Alabama crash can push the numbers up for a year.•If there are 550,000 school buses on the road in the US, each drivers individual odds are 20/550,000 or 1 in 27,500. Chances are pretty good it won’t be you – BUT is that a reason not to care?•Making the jump from an individual driver or attendant to an operation, a 100 bus fleet is likely to experience a fatality once every 275 years. Another way to look at this that is more immediate is to say that in 275 100-bus fleets, one will have a fatal accident this year.•New York State transports about 1/10th of all the children in the country so statistically that means about 2 children a year in New York State. These could be upstate, they could be downstate, but unless everyone makes a decision to be better than the rest of the country, they will happen here.•The bottom line is, “Who do I consider a part of my circle of concern?” The whole point of the beginning of this lesson is to get drivers and attendants to not just dismiss doing quality pre-trips and post-trips that might uncover vandalized brake lines, bulbs out in the loading or brake lights, or sleeping children just because it probably won’t happen to them, but to broaden their circle of concern to include all students drivers and attendants. That would mean that everyone/every day chooses to do the right thing.

Group Activity: Ask them briefly how a news report of a school bus fatality can affect them even if it’s not their bus. Answers might include imposition of new regulatory requirements on school bus personnel and operations, parents choosing to transport children themselves that would increase overall risk and reduce the need for school busing and jobs, putdowns from friends or general public about school buses and those who operate them, etc.



Today’s Objectives

Actively caring for safetyDoing a daily personal pre-tripHot Inspection Topics:

MirrorsEmergency Exits Security Sleeping Children Parking the bus

Instructor Notes: Briefly explain the objectives – let them know what is ahead. Tell them that you will return to the objectives at the end of the lesson so they will have a chance to check your performance ☺. Explain that this lesson will not be a comprehensive review of the walkaround inspection but will focus on commitment to doing a good inspection and the five HOT TOPICS that have high-risk potential. A few are topics that have been discussed forever and some are ones that have come to our attention more recently, but all are ones with a high potential for risk.


Did you get it?

4

Instructor Notes: Using a copy of the crossword clues, go through the across first, asking for answers from the class first. Each click will uncover the next clue. Don’t spend a lot of time explaining answers because most will be addressed during the lesson. Don’t let a small group answer all the questions. The reason for doing this right away is to get their attention off of the puzzle if they are still trying to complete it and back on the lesson.

Overhead Version: Before you put up this overhead, go through each clue in order and see if they got the answers. After you have covered all the clues, you can put up this slide so they can see the solution.



2007

5

Instructor Notes: Since the idea of actively caring is closely linked to teamwork, this slide from the previous year makes a connection between this material and where we left off last year.



“Safely Transporting Students”

No Intervention

Notice a need –is something wrong?

Intervention required –am I needed?

Perform Actively Caring Behavior

Choose intervention –What should I do?

Assume responsibility – should I intervene?

yes

yes

yes

yes

No

No

No

No

Instructor Notes: The 2007 slide identified the goal as “Safely Transporting Students”and this slide explains the decision-making process that must occur for “Actively Caring Behavior” to become an industry wide decision. If at any point in this process the answer is “no” the actively caring behavior won’t happen and students, drivers, and attendants become at risk.•For someone to “get involved” the first step is for them to notice a need. We have identified a global need by a discussion of national and state student school bus fatalities, but each driver and attendant must choose to embrace that need as one that can and must be fixed.•Once a need has been established the next decision is “Am I needed to fix the problem?”This requires the understanding of teamwork including everyone to be focused on the intervention.•Intervention here means two things. The first, which we have already implied, is doing quality inspections to break the cycle of risk. The second, harder one, is intervening with co-workers when they are not doing the right thing. If we are committed to the safety of ALL students, drivers, and attendants then we can’t really let any bus go out of the yard or end the trip without a quality inspection.•Choosing Actively Caring Behavior then includes quality inspections and a willingness to work towards fleet-wide quality inspections.



What does that look like?

Team actively cares about goals, action plans, and consequencesTeam believes in and owns the missionTeam decides to feel obligated to work towards goals and support the visionTeam gives rewarding,supportive, and correctivefeedback to increase behaviors consistent with vision-relevant goals.

Instructor Notes: This slide outlines what it looks like when the individual becomes part of the team and all team members begin to work toward the common goal. •On the third point it is important to stress that the sense of obligation comes not from a directive, but from an internal commitment to the goal.•On the fourth point, be sure to highlight the fact that interventions with other drivers and attendants can be not because you have a concern, but also be telling them you observed them doing a great job. When interventions are both positive an negative it becomes clear that it is not a personal issue but is objectively focused on the goal of safety for all.



Snitching or Supporting?

What driver or attendant behaviors would you bring to their attention?What driver or attendant behaviors would you bring to a supervisor’s attention?What are the possible outcomes?Who really wins or loses?

Instructor Notes: The idea of mentioning a sloppy or non-existent inspection to a co-worker or supervisor sounds like snitching but if the goal is overall safety, then it is supporting others in working together toward the common goal.Group Activity: Engage the group in discussion of these questions. Don’t allow them to dismiss the idea because as the last question suggests, everyone loses.



Your Personal Pre-trip

Sleep – Alcohol or drugsPersonal stress – Physical fitnessEvacuation plans Rapport with staffRapport w/children and parentsOn time to workAccurate DVIR

Group Activity: Before uncovering the text, ask the drivers and attendants what things might make them less able to perform their duties safely. Once you have had this discussion uncover the list and see if they have identified these and note what others they thought of that weren’t on the list.

Instructor Notes: This slide is designed so that the text will come in on the second click With the title and photo up. The photo suggests that we must look in the mirror each day and decide if we can really say, “I am a prepared driver or attendant ready to safely transport students to and from school safely.”•Use of alcohol and drugs – either prescription, non-prescription, or illegal – can compromise the safety of the trip. With alcohol, be sure to stress that even following CDL and DMV guidelines for hours without drinking can still leave you under the influence. Be sure to mention that many prescription and non-prescription drugs can effect alertness, reaction time, and decision-making. They should check with their doctor.•Stress or physical problems can affect performance, either because attention is drawn away from the job or thorough inspection, emergency driving maneuvers or evacuation of students cannot be completed.•Are they prepared for emergencies? Have they trained their students to be ready for emergencies?•Are relationships positive with the others involved in the transportation process so that communication and response are maximized?•Do they get to work on time so that they can do a quality pre-trip, get all necessary information from the office, and complete an accurate DVIR?



John Donne revisited

No one is an island,No one stands alone.Each one’s joy is joy to me,Each one’s grief is my own.We need one another.So I will defend,Each one as my sibling, Each one as my friend1572-1631

Instructor Notes: John Donne said it very well almost 500 years ago. To be successful we must see our job, and in a broader sense, life as a group effort. At this point we will turn to the five inspection HOT TOPICS.



Pre-trip & Post-trip Hot Topics

MirrorsEmergency ExitsSecuritySleeping ChildrenPump the Brakes

Instructor Notes: This slide is just meant to lay out a roadmap for the rest of the presentation so your students will have a sense of where we are heading. As mentioned earlier, these HOT TOPICS were chosen because of recent incidents or because of their ongoing disposition to lead to high risk situations.

The photo shows a driver or attendant using a electronic device. Be sure to stress that the use of mechanical aides such as this does not remove the necessity for carefully checking each bus component and more than a crossing gate removes the need for proper safe crossing procedures.



Pre-trip: Mirrors

Which mirrors are used for:

1. PM right?2. PM left?3. BOB?4. Pedestrians

around bus?

Instructor Notes: This is the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for school bus mirror performance. A seated driver should be able to see cones placed at all of these locations. Drivers who have attendants are especially lucky because the attendant can help adjust mirrors. Other drivers should have a process to link up with a mechanic or other staff who can help them adjust mirrors, especially when they are assigned a spare bus.

New York State’s standard exceeds the national standard because it requires vision in front of the bus, not just to 12’ but until direct vision is possible.

Group Activity: Ask the drivers and attendants to identify what sort of student or motorist behaviors each mirror is designed to observe.



Pre-trip: Emergency Exits

Doors unlockedCheck from outsideAll exits all the wayNot just to “vent”Keeps hinges workingStay open as designed?

Instructor Notes: Introduce this topic by explaining that emergency exits don’t matter until they do and that time is not a good time to find out that you don’t know how to operate them or that they are inoperable for some reason. Be sure to stress that the inspection is not really an inspection of the buzzer that will sound as soon as the handle is moved, but is of the full operation of the exit.•If there are any kind of locks on emergency doors or any other exit, it is imperative that the bus is not driven with unlocking the exits. Children have died because of this happening.•Check emergency exits, especially doors (and not roof hatches!) from the outside because if they must be opened by emergency personnel from the outside, they must be opened without the better leverage of the long inside handles. Just because the 18” handle on the inside can open the door doesn’t mean the 6” one on the outside will too.•All exits should be opened at least halfway to make sure there are no obstructions and hinges are working smoothly. For exits that have a catch to hold them in place, be sure to open it all the way and make sure the catch is working.•With roof hatches be sure drivers and attendants know how to open the hatches for evacuation, not just ventilation – they are two very different procedures.

Group Activity: If you expand this one-hour classroom lesson into a longer lesson that includes getting onto a bus, be sure to include full opening of all exits, including emergency doors from the outside.



Pre-trip and Post-trip Security Pre-trip and post-trip

inspections that reveal the following may suggest the need for further attention:New marks or noticeable force of entry into vehicleUnusual foreign item(s) attached to vehicleOpened or disturbed compartments.

Instructor Notes: The following three slides are taken from a brochure from the Transportation Security Administration that is a part of the Department of Homeland Security. 9/11 raised our awareness of security issues, but in fact threats and acts of violence to school buses have existed for many years. Remind drivers and attendants to take ever threat seriously, to remember that most threats are homegrown and are not restricted to one nationality, ethnic group, or religion.

Work your way through these three slides being sure to emphasize that security is both a pre-trip and post-trip issue.



TSA recommends checking the following areas for suspicious packages, devices, substances, unattended baggage, backpacks, etc.:

Clean bus a must!Wheelchair liftsLightsWheel wellsEngine compartmentsFloorsBelow seatsDriver's areaStep wells

Instructor Notes: The first point is really the key – a CLEAN BUS. Security depends on the drivers and attendants noticing something out of the ordinary. The only way unusual items or situations will be observed is if the bus always looks the same – clean. If a bus is always messy then potentially dangerous items will be missed.

Two recent cases (one on this page and one on the next):

GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT) - A 16-year-old Whitewater teen is in custody at the Division of Youth Services (DYS) today, after allegedly saying he had a bomb.

According to police the mention of a bomb was heard by a First Student (formerly Laidlaw) employee as the student was getting ready to board his bus home from Grand Junction High School.

The bus driver determined the student didn't actually have a weapon and was not a threat. But, the driver filed a report with police.

Acting on that report, authorities contacted the teen and a parent at his Whitewater home. It was then that Grand Junction Police say they found the teen was in possession of material that would be classified as an explosive (a detonating cord). Police also allege that the boy had parts that when combined could make an explosive or incendiary device.

The teen was then taken into custody and faces several felony charges, including false reporting of explosives and possession of explosives.

District 51 Spokesman, Jeff Kirtland, said Thursday that the school is conducting it's own investigation into the incident to determine what sort of disciplinary action to take against the teen.



It’s probably nothing…butExhaust systemFuel and air tanksBack/side emergency exit door(s) Wheel wellsOver windshieldTrash canLuggage compartmentsBattery box

Instructor Notes: Make sure drivers and attendants don’t think that you expect them to look inside exhaust systems or air tanks. The goal is just for them to be aware of places where an explosive might be located so that when they are inspecting their bus they are looking for anything suspicious in these areas.

Recent case:

Tri-Valley lockdown promoted by object found on a school busWJBC News, IL - 09/11/2007 14:11:02

The Superintendent of Tri-Valley Schools calls it an innocent mistake. The three schools in Downs were on lockdown this morning after a bus driver found an object on the bus. The kids were off the bus when it was found. McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery is forwarding the case on to the State's Attorney, but says one student questioned will be released to his or her parents today so no students are in custody.

Superintendent Brad Cox says school has resumed as normal today after a search of the elementary, grade school and high school buildings. Administration along with the sheriff's deputies determined there was no serious threat to students.

Cox and the Emery still not saying what that object is, but we could know more after the State's Attorney looks at the case and decides if any charge should be filed.KJCT8.com, CO - Feb 1, 2008



Post-trip: Sleeping Children, etc.

Only takes a few minutesUnder seatsFind children, lost items, suspicious packagesIdentify vandalismWeather extremesStranger DangerLose job

Five-year-old child left alone on bus for half-hour'Policies and procedures may not have been followed'By Denise Smith Amos Enquirer staff writer

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Instructor Notes: When we talk about student school bus fatalities, we are talking about 20 a year. Incidents of children being left on school buses after routes numbers in the 100s annually. Doing a quality post-trip Inspection impacts not just student safety it also impacts driver and attendant jobs. Incidents often lead to criminal prosecution. Most operations have had a driver or attendant fired or suspended for this simple omission. A recent incident involved a boy who was 6’ tall and weighed 240 pounds – in other incidents children have been left secured in car seats on the bus. These are incidents where obviously no post-trip was done.

•It takes only a few minutes to walk to the back of the bus and check for children, forgotten or placed items, or vandalism. It is important to turn on the interior lights if it is dark out. •Look carefully under the seats. While the earlier examples were obvious, often small children can slide off the seat and down onto the floor beneath the seats and are undeniably hard to find. Children may even try to play a game and hide from you.•This issue is not just about anxious parents. Children left behind in school buses have died in extreme weather. Cold and heat can be equally dangerous.•In addition to medical harm that can come from the weather, children can wander away from a bus lot and be exposed to all nature of undesirable societal elements, traffic dangers, or just get lost.



Post-trip: Parking the Bus

Amber Sadiq May 2006Driver left vehicle to get lunchPasserby child released brakeAlways pump down brakesTurn wheels to curb

Instructor Notes: Don’t talk too much about this incident before the group activity.

This incident highlights the fact that the “end of the run” is not always the bus lot. The only way to secure a bus and prevent a situation like this is to turn the wheels to the curb and pump down the air pressure in the bus so the spring brakes come on. The air pressure can only be restored by turning on the bus. There was an incident in the 1980s as well that involved a New Jersey bus on a field trip to a New York State apple orchard downstate.

Be sure everyone understands the necessary procedure for the bus they drive as well as other buses in the fleet that they might be assigned to drive.

Group Activity: Distribute the Amber Sadiq case study worksheet. Give the drivers and attendants 5 minutes to read the summary and to think about this incident and jot down their ideas. Then CLICK AGAIN for the bullets to appear and ask for responses to the questions on the worksheet. Don’t let one person monopolize the conversation – try and get responses from multiple people.

Background: The full newspaper account of this incident is in your PDS packet and can augment the summary on the worksheet. Be sure that all the relevant issues are addressed in the discussion.



Looking Back

Actively caring for safetyDoing a daily personal pre-tripHot Inspection Topics:

MirrorsEmergency Exits Security Parking the Bus Sleeping Children

Instructor Notes: Use this look back at the objectives to test your success teaching the lesson.

Group Activity: •Ask the drivers and attendants to describe for you what “Actively Caring” looks like. Be sure they mention both personal correct behaviors and supporting others on doing the right thing.•Ask for items that are included in being “personally ready” to transport school children.•Review the HOT TOPICS asking for the key specifics on each topic.



Actively Caring means…Not just knowing how to do inspections but believing in their importanceCaring not just for your outcomes, but your fellow drivers and attendants as wellCommitting to the children’s safe transportPride

Instructor Notes: Reinforce their responses with this overview of actively caring.



“Never ever compromise yourself as a professional. Not to a student, a teacher, a parent, or to another transportation professional.

Demand respect from all you deal with in your job. If we do not respect ourselves, then we cannot expect others to respect us, or more importantly, to respect the role in which we serve.”

Jack Gaffney, Rush-Henrietta CSDThank you for Actively Caring

Instructor Notes: After Jack’s statement has been read, click once more for the thank-you message. Be sure to emphasize your appreciation for their dedication to children’s safety.

Group Activity: Ask one of the attendees who you know will be comfortable reading Jack’s statement to read it aloud to the whole group.

Background: Jack Gaffney was given NYAPT’s highest award for communication, the Art Schock Award. He was a long time supervisor in the Rochester area who mentored dozens, if not hundreds of new supervisors over the decades of his career.

Notes Version: Thank-you reduced in size so text can be seen.

Printed Overheads: The “Thank you…” is an additional slide that can be printed and used after the Gaffney quote.