Accident Or Incident?

If a driver was uncoupling, and forgot to unhook the airlines, would that be considered an accident or an incident? More information: Driver started to pull off and forgot to disconnect the airlines. The airlines did not break. Nothing was broken or damaged at all. Nobody was hurt, nothing was hit. Was still in the yard during this incident.

Hello Amanda, and welcome to our forum!

When you say, "Nothing was broken or damaged at all," I'm wondering how anyone even knows this happened.

When nothing is broken or damaged it is not an incident. Unless you just like telling on yourself for messing up, there is no reason for this to be an issue. Man, I think I mess up at least once a day, but if nothing is damaged or broken, then nobody but me knows how dumb I was that day. Take it easy on yourself. If you didn't tear anything up today, you made it a good day.

You just learned a lesson about trucking that you will probably not forget. That's what this was. It was a learning experience. Maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it was "your friend." It doesn't really matter who it was. Turn it into a lesson learned. That's what a professional driver does.

No damage means no incident or accident at every company I’ve been at

I am asking for another driver, and at that time he didn’t know that nothing was broken. Not until he went to have it “repaired” he’s a brand new driver and has a brand new 2025 truck so he wanted to make sure it was ok. I think he assumed it was broke. Anyways, the company reported this incident as an accident on his record and says he will have a reported accident on his record for 7 years

If a driver was uncoupling, and forgot to unhook the airlines, would that be considered an accident or an incident? More information: Driver started to pull off and forgot to disconnect the airlines. The airlines did not break. Nothing was broken or damaged at all. Nobody was hurt, nothing was hit. Was still in the yard during this incident.

I also need to add that the airlines did come out of the tractor so they did need to be put back in

I’m kinda confussed by the last statement. Most air lines attached at the tractor end are threaded. If that was pulled out then the air lines would be damaged. The other end has glad hands and could be pulled loose without being damaged.

Either way I don’t see it as an accident. It would be an incident and those are up to the company how to handle. Even accidents that are not DOT reportable the company determines how to handle those as well.

You refer to his record. I’m guessing that is a DAC report or some internal record of that company. 7 years seems wrong to me, but I haven’t been a big company person in along time. Normally 3 years would be the max time for something of this nature.

the airlines did come out of the tractor so they did need to be put back in

That information changes everything. Something did get broken or damaged.

So what is it you want to know? I wouldn't split hairs over whether this is an accident or incident. It's the driver's fault.

When we make mistakes that require someone to make repairs, we get consequences. Trucking is performance based. That is something that works for us or against us. We do our best to put the power of our performance in our favor.

the airlines did come out of the tractor so they did need to be put back in

That information changes everything. Something did get broken or damaged.

So what is it you want to know? I wouldn't split hairs over whether this is an accident or incident. It's the driver's fault.

When we make mistakes that require someone to make repairs, we get consequences. Trucking is performance based. That is something that works for us or against us. We do our best to put the power of our performance in our favor.

So the person who put the airlines back in said it was no big deal they just came out and needed reconnecting. So he reconnected them, he didn’t have to replace anything. I wouldn’t really say that was damaged or broke. But either way, to report this as an “accident” and to be on record for 7 years I feel is not what this calls for. I feel like it’s an incident, but I don’t know that’s why I came to ask others who have more experience

Amanda, it had to go to a mechanic to be repaired. That means it's broken or damaged.

to be on record for 7 years I feel is not what this calls for.

Trucking has zero tolerance for our "feelings." It's all about performance. This was a bad performance for the driver. We live and learn. We don't learn anything by minimizing levels of damage. Do you think the driver learned an important lesson? Do you think you can learn from this also?

If you can learn from it you will be a lot more supportive and helpful to this driver. You must be close to them to take this up as you have. You can really help them be successful at this by understanding the dynamics of a performance based job. Get past your feelings about it and focus on productivity, safety, and being easy to work with.

Move forward. Don't get bogged down thinking the company is being cruel. It's the reality of trucking. We have to be almost spotless to keep our jobs. Work on establishing that spotless record. That's what it takes. There are a lot of drivers out here with millions of miles of perfectly safe driving. Strive for that and stay focused on how well you can do this job.

Amanda, it had to go to a mechanic to be repaired. That means it's broken or damaged.

to be on record for 7 years I feel is not what this calls for.

Trucking has zero tolerance for our "feelings." It's all about performance. This was a bad performance for the driver. We live and learn. We don't learn anything by minimizing levels of damage. Do you think the driver learned an important lesson? Do you think you can learn from this also?

If you can learn from it you will be a lot more supportive and helpful to this driver. You must be close to them to take this up as you have. You can really help them be successful at this by understanding the dynamics of a performance based job. Get past your feelings about it and focus on productivity, safety, and being easy to work with.

Move forward. Don't get bogged down thinking the company is being cruel. It's the reality of trucking. We have to be almost spotless to keep our jobs. Work on establishing that spotless record. That's what it takes. There are a lot of drivers out here with millions of miles of perfectly safe driving. Strive for that and stay focused on how well you can do this job.

It’s not about my feelings or anyone’s feelings. I appreciate your comments, however, not helpful. Of course it was the drivers fault. Of course he learned from the mistake. But that’s not really what I’m asking here. Thank you though