Better Safe than Sorry - Simple Steps to Improve Site Safety

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Did you know that one of the largest car wash chains in the country has a push-on, push-off policy exclusively for any Jeep Cherokee, any year, which enters their wash? Did you know that within the last 6-months, unintended acceleration involving Jeep Cherokees at the car wash killed two people?

This is nothing new. I’ve written about it before. Last week my 17 year old son decided to take a line position at a nearby flex-serve car wash. Admittedly a little overprotective I decided to call the owner, a friend of mine, to see what his current driver training and car handling procedures were. I asked if he had heard about the recent fatalities involving Jeep Cherokees. Genuinely surprised, he replied no, and that it had been so long since he heard about the issue, he couldn’t say with absolute confidence that all of his staff were still following the correct driver safety procedures. But that he would find out. Satisfied that he would ensure the simple safety practices that save lives, and potentially my son’s, were in place, I realized it might be a good idea to remind everyone of the few extra steps to protect the safety of our employees and customers. Attention to training, management, signage, and site planning can help avoid tragedy; here are a few ideas I’ve written about before to start with.

Driver Training & Certification Program

Set very specific requirements as to who at your site is permitted to move a customer’s car. Train them. Test them. Certify them and differentiate them from the rest of your staff.  I’ve seen some operators use red vests, baseball caps, and distinct shirts. Whatever you use, your manager must be able to know with a quick glance, without thinking, that whoever is driving a car has been certified to do so.

Driver certification can include many things. At a bare minimum, you must verify that they possess a valid driver’s license, have passed a drug screening, and can drive both automatic and manual transmission vehicles. A safe wash will use those base qualities to verify that candidates are eligible to receive special driver certification. All certified drivers must be trained and able to demonstrate a complete understanding of vehicle stacking and moving procedures. In addition, they should be aware of all cars with special considerations and know proper handling procedures.

Some vehicles require additional care when moving. Every wash must devise a list of them and the necessary action to alert all people on the property to the potential danger. Visor clips, steering wheel covers, hazard lights, or horn honks each time a vehicle is moved are some common signals used. Vehicles that warrant extra care include those with modifications common for driver education or handicapped operation, as well as cars with a documented history of sudden acceleration. Regional and national car wash associations are excellent sources for information on makes and models that demand caution when on your property.

The last component of a driver certification program is to make sure it’s treated seriously. It is advised to provide additional compensation or benefit such as free uniforms to certified drivers. Equally, managers must fully appreciate that failure to adhere to these procedures can and will result in serious injury.

Start in Park Procedure for Special Care Vehicles
Did you know that most, if not all, unintended acceleration incidents occur when shifting a running car from neutral to drive when exiting the conveyor? Cars with a documented history of unintended acceleration should never be permitted to go through the conveyor with the engine running. At the exit of the conveyor, all special care vehicles should be placed in park with the brake pedal fully depressed and visually verified before starting the engine. Drivers must be trained to watch the tachometer and wait for engine speed to decline after ignition before slowly releasing the brakes and proceeding with caution, hand on the ignition and ready to turn off the engine in the event of unintended acceleration. The parking brake can also be engaged as an additional safety precaution.

 

Bollards Equal Safety

Bollards are steel pipes embedded into the ground and filled with concrete. Used for years to provide protective barriers around gas pumps, vended vacuums, and building entrances, they can also be used to provide a safe place for attendants to stand at your wash. Flex-serve and Express-Exterior washes are increasingly installing them on the driver side of the conveyor entrance. Attendants stand safely behind the post as they guide customers onto the conveyor. Full-serve washes are using Bollards to provide safer work areas in vacuum lanes, finishing areas, or anywhere cars and people are both moving around. For anyone who reads my column regularly, you’ve probably realized I strongly recommend against any manual vehicle prep. For those who insist on using labor instead of the many available equipment options for this function, Bollards can again be used to provide a safe separation between prep attendants and cars entering the conveyor.

Eliminate Unnecessary Movement

Every time a customer or employee moves a car at your site, there is the potential for an accident. To improve safety, move the car as few times as possible. Whenever possible, use the customer to move it. Express-Exteriors are designed so that the customer drives through the wash and either exits directly, or to free vacuums before leaving. Flex-Serves are similar in that they are normally laid out so that customers who select interior services are guided into a predetermined bay in the aftercare center. They then drive their own car away from the spot where they left it once services are complete. Safety problems can arise at Flex-Serves where land or other considerations require an attendant to move the car and at Full-Serves where an employee drives vehicles on or off the conveyor.

When attendants must move cars, do everything possible to reduce the distance and number of times it occurs. Moves should never happen more than twice. For this to occur, the car must be vacuumed where the customer leaves it, and moved once to the conveyor entrance. It is then driven a second time from the conveyor exit to the finishing area where services are performed and the customer drives away from the wash. Too often, cars are unnecessarily moved short distances at both the entrance and exit of a car wash. This jostling of cars is unsafe, inefficient, and avoidable with training and signage to “fill the grid”.

Fill the Grid

To efficiently and safely move cars through your wash they must move in and out of grids in an exact pattern. Everything must be predictable. Every person at the wash must know where the next car will be going. If you can’t ask any employee at your wash “why didn’t you fill the grid” without them immediately understanding what you said and apologizing, you have a safety problem. So what is a grid? At most Full-Serves, there are two grids, one where a customer turns over the car for vacuuming, and a second where an attendant parks the car for finishing. Grids are easy to understand and implement. The difficulty is ensuring they are adhered to every time, by every employee.

The Vacuum Grid

The vacuum grid illustration shows a typical two lane stack with 4 drops and 4 spots. Customers are guided into each spot, in sequence, to fill the grid, with the vacuum drop between cars. The most common mistake made happens on slow days. Both attendants and customers will want to fill spot 1 and jump to spot 3. You must train this habit out of your employees. You must also make sure customers know to remain in their car and wait for an attendant to guide them into the correct location before getting out. It may be necessary to use signs and cones to instruct customers to stop and wait. Some locations may also have to get a longer hose, about 20 feet, to be able to reach all areas of both cars in the lane from each drop. The result is that in a short time you will have better predictability, fewer vehicle movements, and improved safety. Skipping the one car length move to the vacuum by a hurried attendant reduces the risk of injury in an area with a lot up unexpected motion.

The Finishing Grid

One of the greatest opportunities to improve safety is to stack cars predictably in the Full Service finishing area. Depending on what your property allows, you should layout a grid to the maximum width and necessary depth to accommodate the highest anticipated volume. Every car should come off the conveyor into an assigned spot, not to be moved again until the owner drives the finished product away. An organized grid system maintains all cars headed in the same direction. As long as there is a car in the grid, the drive off attendant must complete the grid. Some operators stencil the ground with numbers and positioning marks to avoid confusion. An additional safety measure is to install an anti-collision system. These products detect if a car has cleared the conveyor exit and shut down the conveyor and all equipment if a car does not exit for any reason.

The other objective is to reduce and control the movement of people at the conveyor exit. Employees should move to the vehicle, never the other way around. Customers should have a clear path to walk to their car that minimizes crossing traffic exiting the conveyor. All supplies that attendants need to finish the car should be within half a car length from where they are working. This keeps employees from moving around which is not only safer, but more efficient as well.  For a grid to work effectively it must always be followed regardless of volume or employee count. Good habits breed predictability which is the foundation for improving safety.

Summary

No matter how busy, or slow, your site is, everyone should know where the next vehicle is supposed to go. Creating a predictable and controlled environment, that minimizes employee movement and provides protective barriers for them to do their job, will improve the safety of your wash. Safety shouldn’t be left to chance. Careful attention to training, management, signage, procedures, and equipment will help protect the most import assets at your wash … people.