It's the middle of the night and the telephone rings at the dispatch office. There's been a collision. The driver tells the on-duty dispatcher that no one was injured and the damage to the other vehicle was "not too bad". The state trooper had taken the information from both your driver and the driver of the automobile, but your dispatcher doesn't get to talk to him. Your driver states he was cited for "Failure to reduce speed" and that the only damage to your truck was a bent front bumper. The dispatcher writes down the driver's name, unit number, a brief account of what the driver told him happened, and places the note on the desk of the Operations Manager and then goes back to lining up the next days work assignments. An hour later, the telephone rings again. It is the husband of the lady involved in the collision. He tells the dispatcher that his wife has been admitted to the hospital and he's demanding to know who he has to speak with to get the medical bill paid for and what your company is going to do about his car. The dispatcher, not really knowing what to do, tells him "sir, you'll just have to call my operations manager in the morning".

If your people don't know what to do, or if they have no guide to assist them, seemingly minor incidents or situations can become a major cost or problem. The only way to assure things are done correctly is to provide your people with the proper methods to do their tasks. The only way to assure that each situation is handled the way it should be is to provide procedures that are consistent with current governmental regulations, company policies, customer demands, and are done in the most cost saving manner possible.

This can only be accomplished if you have procedure manuals that offer guidance and specific ways to handle situations. Also, the manuals must indicate exactly what to do in the event of certain critical situations that, if not handled properly, will cause you to not be in compliance with regulations and will subject your company to fines, increased exposure to litigation, and severely harm your customer relations. Giving your employees the method of the tasks they have to perform not only day to day, but during a crisis will save them time and save the company money. Existing manuals must be updated from time to time in order to remain compliant with the ever changing regulations and company growth.

The manuals will be developed and/or updated to comply with all current governmental regulations, streamline your company processes, and provide guidance to all employees. You can not expect your employees to perform their tasks properly unless you provide the methods.