A study of commercial
livestock hauling mishaps indicates that driver fatigue — not
bad weather — is the main precursor to such incidents.
“Most people assume bad weather is the main cause of rollover
accidents involving livestock trucks. But, data shows fatigue
has been a major factor in a high percentage of truck
accidents,” reports Jennifer Woods, a livestock consultant from
Blackie, Alberta, Canada.
Woods has trained more than 2,000 people in North America
regarding how to handle livestock involved in motor vehicle
accidents, and says, “The most important step is to be prepared
ahead of time.”
A graduate of Colorado
State University in animal science, Woods has worked closely
with animal behavior specialist Temple Grandin, who was one of
her former professors. Today, Woods continues to collaborate
with Grandin on livestock handling, facility design and welfare
auditing and also works as an independent consultant to the
livestock industry and government across North America. She has
extensive experience with swine, cattle, horses, sheep, elk and
bison. And, her clients have included Cargill, the National Pork
Board, Smithfield Foods, and the National Cattleman’s Beef
Association.
For a recent study,
Woods collected data on 415 commercial hauling accidents in
Canada and the United States from 1994-2007 with information
coming from insurance companies, police and fire departments,
trucking companies, Internet searches and industry sources. Here
she shares the results and strategies for handling a livestock
accident if it does occur.
What were some of the findings in the more than 400 accidents
you collected information on?
The majority of these accidents (56%) involved cattle, followed
by pigs at 27%, and poultry at 11%. Of the 169 documented
accidents involving cattle, 23% took place with trucks hauling
slaughter weight cattle, while 70% involved feeders and calves.
Woods adds that in
the documented accidents, the livestock transport vehicle was
the only vehicle involved in 80% of the accidents; 82% of the
trailers rolled over on their side; and of these, 84% rolled to
the right. These are all indicators that driver fatigue played a
role, she says.
Additionally, of the reports that documented time of day, 59% of
them occurred between midnight and 9:00 am. Only 1% of the
reports identified weather conditions as the cause of the
accident, and the winter months did not record the highest
number of accidents. The month of October lead with 40
accidents, followed by November, August, April and May.
Woods concludes,
“The fact that the majority of accidents occurred between
midnight and 9:00 a.m. along with several of the other
indicators strongly suggests that driver fatigue is the leading
cause of these accidents.”
How might some of this driver error and fatigue be minimized to
prevent such accidents?
Woods advocates working with drivers on how to responsibly
manage their sleep patterns, how to recognize fatigue, and
establish a company policy on how to deal with fatigue while
driving.
“The key is not to roll the truck. Drivers can’t get near the
shoulder of the highway. One study showed that a loaded
livestock semi-trailer rarely exceeds 5 degrees before reaching
the point of imminent rollover,” says Woods.
What should be done if a livestock accident does occur?
At the scene of the accident, Woods suggests the following
protocol for efficiently handling the situation:
If the accident
occurs on a county road or state highway, by law you are
required to call 911. If the accident occurs on private
property, you are not required to notify officials, but Woods
highly recommends getting help through the fire department or
someone trained in livestock rescue.
For safety, limit the number of people at the accident scene.
Set up containment
for any live animals. “Don’t open the door to the trailer until
you know where you’ll go with those animals. Loose livestock can
cause other accidents,” says Woods.
If you must extricate the animals by cutting the trailer apart,
use a saw and start with the roof, but only cut an opening to
allow one animal out at a time, says Woods.
At the emergency preparedness trainings you offer, what do you
focus on?
To successfully handle a motor vehicle accident involving
livestock training and teamwork are essential. Thus, Woods says
she aims to help first responders be trained specifically to
deal with livestock accidents. She says, “Just like hazardous
material loads, these incidents have to be handled with extra
care and caution.”
In her trainings,
Woods covers animal behavior because she says, “An animal rolled
over in a trailer is completely different to handle. And,
without knowing how to handle that animal, more injuries could
occur to people at the scene as they are trying to help with the
rescue.”
Likewise, Woods has a semi-trailer at all of her trainings so
that emergency responders can become familiar with the
compartments of the trailer and how to cut the trailer apart in
order to extricate animals.
Secondly, teamwork
at the accident scene becomes critically important. Woods says a
common challenge at a livestock accident is lack of
communication among the emergency responders from different
agencies and sometimes even power struggles for control of the
scene. By training ahead of time and having a policy and
procedure format in place, each player should know their role at
the scene – such as the fire department for extrication, etc.
As part of the
preparation process, Woods also advocates that rescue teams have
a contact sheet of who to call for panels and stock trailers to
contain live animals at the scene or veterinarians who may need
to be called in.
Woods emphasizes
that rescue teams should be trained in euthanasia as well.
“Livestock accident responders need to know how it is done and
who to euthanize,” says Woods. In her trainings, she also
assures rescue teams that euthanasia is the humane thing for a
severely injured animal.
“We will never
completely eliminate livestock accidents, but we can help
minimize them and be prepared to handle them safely when they do
occur,” concludes Woods.
Why is livestock transportation becoming such an important
issue?
Woods points out that livestock related accidents have a huge
economic cost, but perhaps even more importantly, because
livestock trailers carry live animals, these incidents also have
a public concern and must be handled safely and humanely.
“The livestock
industry needs to be prepared to handle these accidents when
they happen,” says Woods. She emphasizes that doing a good job
handling livestock-related accidents is becoming increasingly
important because she sees the humane society and animal rights
groups like PETA getting involved in this issue.
Woods says, “Animal
rights groups are going after transportation.” As an example,
she says in the pork industry she knows of two cases where PETA
has filed legal actions for cruelty to animals for not
euthanizing animals at an accident quickly enough. She also
cites instances where the humane society is working with animal
rescue teams and PETA has an accident response team working with
law enforcement.
“That should not be
happening. Instead, the livestock industry needs to be stepping
up to the plate and working with emergency responders in
handling our own wrecks,” says Woods.
Woods notes that she is seeing some commercial companies be
progressive about this issue. She reports that within the swine
industry Cargill and Smithfield Foods have made a commitment to
training drivers and emergency response teams. “They each have
four rescue trailers around the country that are ready to
respond to a livestock accident when needed. The team that goes
with the trailers is trained in livestock emergency response,
extrication and euthanasia,” says Woods. She hopes more
livestock companies and industry organizations will follow this
lead in being prepared.
Jennifer Woods offers training courses on topics including
Livestock Emergency Response, Livestock Behavior and Handling
and Livestock Handling for Youth, for more information visit her
website at www.livestockhandling.net or call (403) 684-3008, or
e-mail
livestockhandling@mac.com.
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