Safety experts urge proper training, remembering the basics

LAS VEGAS — The panel of training and safety experts at the Off-the-Road Tire Conference in Las Vegas, Feb. 21, were flummoxed.

Despite training programs and established safety procedures for servicing large OTR tires in the U.S., eight workers were killed last year when the vehicles they were working on fell off the jacks or the tires exploded during inflation.

There are no statistics for how many near-misses or injuries occurred, but according to safety professionals, if there is a fatality, there were probably 20 near-miss incidents before that fatality happened.

"It's an indication that the people that are out there doing these jobs, for whatever the reason, might be taking shortcuts," panelist Roy Galyer, training manager for Klinge Holdings, said.

"I don't think that there's too many of them out there that don't know that you're supposed to be locked out/tagged out, you're supposed to be securing over two points of contact (when jacking) and cribbing. You're supposed to be doing workplace assessments and ground assessments before you start doing the job. They all know how to do it or they should. … But what is driving them to bypass established rules?"

He surmised that it's human nature to break a few rules and to continue doing it if nothing bad comes of it.

"I personally don't think that we're doing a good enough job to explain to the tire guys when they are out there that the rules that we're talking about for changing tires are not written by some government department. They weren't made up for fun," Galyer said.

"You know what they were? They were written in the blood of other tire guys. Every single one of those steps. Every single one was the blood of a tire guy and the pain of their children and wives when they never came back. And somehow we have to get that across to our tire people, to their supervisors, to the dispatchers, to try and empower them to do it better."

Many victims of tire fatalities and injuries were veteran service people who would know all the proper procedures, said the panelists, which included Galyer; Jeff Faubion, compliance specialist for Bridgestone Americas Inc.; Russ Devens, director of safety and risk management for McCarthy Tire Service; and moderator Kevin Rohlwing, chief technical officer for the Tire Industry Association (TIA).

Rohlwing noted that based on posts he's seen on social media groups for tire techs, there is a "cowboy" mentality.

"These guys, when they're in the field, they've got a, 'It'll never happen to me' attitude, and that 'It will never happen to me' attitude is going to get them," Faubion said.

"They're not freak accidents that are killing people. What's killing people is the basics (using) jacks, jack stands, remote inflator. None of these fatalities — including a bunch of very serious accidents that have happened that were not fatalities this year or in 2023 and again in 2024 — if they would have been standing outside of the trajectory and using a remote inflator," he said.

"So the word 'accident' should not be used here," Galyer said.

"An accident implies that it was an unavoidable event. These are incidents caused by lack of process. These are incidents that are caused by people knowing the right way to do it and choosing not to or not being trained to know how to do it in the first place. Whatever they are, they're not done by accident."

The panel reiterated basic tire safety principles:

• Use jack stands or cribbing to create two points of contact under the vehicle;
• Use a restraining device during tire inflation;
• Use remote inflation equipment;
• Deflate a tire before loosening lug nuts; and
• Stand outside the trajectory of a tire during inflation.

Faubion said it is imperative to have two points of contact when jacking up a vehicle.

"When we're changing tires, we're pulling and pushing on that machine pretty hard to get these tires on and off. So when we've got that machine moving, it can jump or the ground could settle or anything else. So when you've got two points of contact, one way being using composite cribbing — that composite cribbing set with a plate on the bottom and a plate on the top — will settle everything and there's virtually no way to shove it off unless you hit extremely hard."

Rohlwing added that in training classes he also urges the use of jack stands.

"TIA did a study of OSHA fatalities years ago, and we found that the majority of the vehicle service maintenance-related accidents and fatalities were no jack stands, no cribbing, and the jack failed. The vehicle slipped off the jack," he said.

Composite blocking, with a base plate and a top plate, keeps the vehicle from shifting on uneven or soft ground. Rohlwing said it is important to follow the manufacturer's recommended specifications for using the grouping of composite blocks and to train employees on how to properly set up the cribbing.

"As TIA puts together the updated version of Basic ETS (training course), we will be covering that in depth about how to set up the composite cribbing and how it's supposed to work," Rohlwing said.

Remote inflation devices are considered the last line of defense when inflating a large tire. But before a tire is inflated, there are other procedures to follow, such as inspecting the wheels, inspecting the tires, using the right tool without damaging the beads, and watching and checking the tire as it's being inflated.

Rohlwing said it is imperative to stand outside the tire's potential trajectory should it explode.

"If you're standing outside the trajectory and something goes wrong, we call that a Code Brown. If you're inside the trajectory and something goes wrong, there'll be a Code Red because you're dead. That's one of the points that we make in all of our training classes in our training programs is to stand outside.

"And I tell my students the same thing, if you can read the sidewall when you're inflating the tire, you're in the wrong place," he said.

Deflating a tire before dismounting is especially important when working with a multi-piece assembly.

"Never remove inflated multi-piece assemblies from a vehicle for any reason, anyplace, anytime, under any circumstances," Rohlwing said.

"If the tire is a multi-piece assembly and it's inflated, it's a bomb. And we've had a number of fatalities — talking about the preventable fatalities. This is by far the single most preventable fatality, that at least I've seen, over the last few years because, again, if the tires are deflated before we remove the assemblies, the energy is gone. And there's no risk other than it falling on you. But at that point in time, you've taken the energy out of the assembly."

Another possible reason for injury and fatality incidents may be due to the lack of sufficient training.

Younger techs may be tempted to do their "training" on YouTube.

TIA offers 200 and 300 level earthmover tire training that covers the basics of proper tire and wheel servicing.

"What's a life worth?" Devens asked. "I mean, make it part of an onboarding process for all your OTR techs that they can do the basic level online training. ... You got to make sure your people are trained."

Devens also encouraged dealers to follow up on the training to make sure the techs are following procedures.

Faubion advocated for unannounced assessments and evaluations of tire technicians at the job site to make sure they are following all the safety procedures.

"I want to be able to sleep at night knowing that my guys are out there doing the job and doing it safely and making sure that they get home to their families, their kids, their wives and parents and everything else. So I'm a big fan of that unannounced evaluations," Faubion said.

"Let's face it, OTR techs work unsupervised most of the time," Rohlwing said. "So what happens when they're out there by themselves and no one's watching?"

Galyer noted that most tire techs have been trained, but they probably need a refresher course, especially before they are asked to train younger techs.

Experienced techs passing on their bad habits to younger techs is often referred to as the "Bob effect."

"We're having 'Bob,' veterans of the industry, training the new guys coming in and some of those guys, some of those veterans, don't know where their hazards lay and have gotten away with it for so many years, that they choose to continue to do it," Galyer said.

The panelists also wondered if techs who cut corners on safety are under pressure to quickly get a service job done for profitability or customer demand.

"Are our tire guys empowered to stop the job?" Galyer asked. "Do they understand that their job is to do the job and get home safely without any thought to profitability? ...

"Do they have a support system that they know they're going to get a good response from rather than, 'I need you to get that done?'"

Devens said McCarthy Tire established a contract, signed by their technicians and the company president, that allows technicians to stop a work order if they deem the work site unsafe.

Devens said there is a sticker in each work truck with his cell phone number that the technician, or the unhappy customer, can contact since he is the only one in the company who can override the tech's stop-work order. He said he makes his decision after evaluating the site and safety conditions.

Another concern is when techs have to service tires at a construction site or mine after-hours when no one else is around.

"Do we know that they are going to follow the same procedures, policies and do things right and safely when they are out there by themselves?" Faubion asked.

"... Can we send two guys to get the job done? That, to me, is much safer. It's not a whole lot faster because these guys get used to working by themselves and they've got their own way of doing things. So they've got to be teamed up in order to work together and be efficient," he said.

He also suggested that when a tech is working alone, someone at the company should be checking on the tech in case he gets in trouble.

Devens recalled an incident in which a tech got trapped under a vehicle while working alone on a Sunday, and he wasn't discovered until the next day.

He encouraged dealerships to create a "working alone" policy and procedures to make sure technicians who are working alone at a job site at night or on a weekend have completed the work and made it home safely.

"We have to empower, train and help our people to make good decisions and do that problem solving," Galyer said.

"That's what OTR tire service is about. It's not random. It's not repetitive, doing the same thing over and over like it is with car tires and truck tires. Every job we go to is completely different."