Managing Senior Care Community Driving Risks

Staying active and engaged is of the utmost importance for senior care community residents, and field trips are a wonderful way to help facilitate this. However, there are also risks involved in the transportation of seniors to and from activities. If your organization offers its residents transportation by bus, van, or other multi-passenger vehicles, consider whether you’re appropriately managing the associated risks.

How Transportation Services Can Go Wrong

Here are just a few examples of how the best planned outings can go wrong:

• Your driver is distracted by a passenger who is experiencing chest pain so she fails to see a merging vehicle ahead and crashes.
• Another car cuts in front of your bus. To avoid a collision, the driver stops abruptly. However, one of the wheelchairs was not secured properly and lurches forward.
• The driver is not familiar with the van and the roads are slick. He takes a turn too sharply, and the van overturns.

Most senior care field trips go off without a hitch. However, anytime you travel in a vehicle, there’s a chance you will be involved in a collision. In fact, the NHTSA says there are approximately 6 million to 7 million police-reported crashes every single year in the U.S.

When crashes occur, senior residents are particularly susceptible to injuries. For one thing, older adults may have health conditions or frailty. According to the CDC, higher crash death rates among peopled aged 70 and above are largely due to increased vulnerability to injury in a crash.

Furthermore, seniors may have equipment (such as wheelchairs) that may become hazards during a crash if not properly secured. Research published in the Association for the Advancement of Automatic Medicine shows that wheelchair users who stay in their wheelchairs have a greater safety risk compared to wheelchair users who transfer to vehicle seats. Private vehicle passengers who stay in wheelchairs are also more likely to be injured outside of crashes.

Types of Commercial Auto Insurance Needed by Senior Centers

Any vehicles owned by your organization need commercial auto insurance. You may also need to secure hired and non-owned auto insurance for vehicles your organization uses but doesn’t own. For example, if your employees use their personal vehicles to transport residents, you may need hired and non-owned insurance in addition to the personal auto insurance the employee already carries.

Taking Control of Insurance Costs

An increase in both the frequency and severity of claims has caused commercial auto insurance rates to rise significantly in recent years. In fact, some senior care facilities have seen five years of double-digit increases!

Likewise, some insurance companies no longer offer coverage for fleets used by senior care centers, which can make it challenging to find affordable coverage. Carriers that do offer coverage for senior transportation risks tend to evaluate applications with great scrutiny, so it’s important that you’ve taken every step to control risks.

Preventing injuries and crashes is the best way to keep your residents safe while controlling your costs. Be sure to follow these risk management best practices:

• Select your drivers carefully. In addition to vetting drivers thoroughly to ensure they have clean driving records, make sure they know how to drive the vehicle in question. Driving a bus or even a large van is quite different than driving a passenger vehicle.
• Verify that any wheelchairs you use are safe for transportation. Since passengers who remain in a wheelchair may have a higher risk of injury, safety is paramount. Consider using only WC-19 compliant wheelchairs.
• Secure wheelchairs carefully and in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines. Verify that your training reflects the manufacturer’s guidelines and that you adhere to the guidelines when repairing or servicing components. Your team will need to receive training on how to use wheelchair securements, if you use them.
• Train your team on proper wheelchair securement. This guide provides additional details and helpful resources.
• Check your insurance. Verify that you have adequate insurance coverage. Pay particular attention to whether your commercial auto insurance policy covers multi-passenger vehicles and improper wheelchair securement.

Do you need help managing senior care risks involving wheelchairs and multi-passenger vehicles? Propel can help. We partner with reputable carriers in this sector, and offer tailored, cost-effective senior care insurance coupled with vast risk management resources to help you take control of your exposures. Contact Morgan to learn more.