We have substantial experience in municipal losses, particularly, but not limited to, fires and breakdowns among municipal and fleet vehicles.
It is the philosophy of Root Cause Science and Engineering to hold public safety as the first priority. We investigate losses in assets used by the public. When the municipality owns several assets the same as the loss unit, (i.e. fleet vehicles) we are always on the look-out for potential systematic causes of the loss that might be present in identical units. When we find reason to suspect a systematic problem, we immediately interface with municipal maintenance personnel to arrange a systematic inspection of similar systems. At the same time we gather more evidence of possible pre-loss states of exemplar units, strengthening the investigation of the current loss. If there is potential for recovery, that potential can only increase. This policy has been so successful in avoiding fires in transit buses that there has been a noticeable decrease in fires among those municipalities that we have worked with. It is a win-win policy. Public safety has increased, municipal loss has decreased and carriers have less exposure.
We also have experience supporting recovery from manufacturers for design, manufacturing, and assembly errors on vehicles. A record of success and maintaining a professional, scientific, open and unbiased approach has gained respect with manufacturers. We seek to advance joint site inspections with the manufacturer to a conclusive understanding of the loss if possible. In several cases, there has been a prompt offer from the manufacturer, on site or a few days later, to cover the cost of the loss, inspections and retrofits to identical units.
Maintaining a good relationship with municipal staff is key as well because, from time to time, the cause of the loss is an oversight by maintenance staff. While none of the staff wants to hear this, maintaining the focus over the fleet finds other problems before they become losses. Lose 1, save 5, is better than lose 3 before the pattern becomes more obvious. We work cooperatively with staff to get this result. There are some very experienced individuals in municipal staff; they know their particular systems well and they have been and will continue to be a major asset in investigations. Listening to them, pointing out what is found and where problems might be hiding, pointing out other problems on identical units — it is all part of the approach. We encourage curiosity and a scientific approach, and more often than not, the maintenance staff is encouraged to go the extra mile to chase down details. On at least one occasion, the investigation speculated a particular type of problem in a burned unit. It was a member of the maintenance staff working on an identical unit who later found the exact problem. Going back to the loss unit, the systematic problem was confirmed and the sequence of failure completely explained with the manufacturer present; this led to a prompt full recovery.
Municipalities maintain many mobile assets in the dozens that cost $100,000 to $400,000 each. This includes ambulances, mobility buses, works department trucks, snowplows, sanders and municipal transit buses. These are complex systems with many conversions and after-market additions. The base frame of modern vehicles now includes standard electronics and control systems. Add-on systems adapt the vehicle to specific uses. Most large municipalities have dispatch radio systems. GPS tracking and logging has been added to vehicles to provide documentation of activities. This logging for allows traceability of when, for instance, a particular street was plowed. Public-use vehicles may include automated fare systems, on-board and wireless networking, and security camera systems. With more mobility features moving into standard city bus fleets there are more kneeling buses or buses with lifts, deployable ramps or other electromechanical customizations. The more complex these mobile systems become, the more expensive they are and the more complex the losses and the investigations.