The Spill That Wasn't

Two hours from close of the business day our client got a QualComm message from one of their drivers reporting a 100 gallon diesel spill from a broken fuel line.

Having gotten involved early-on, CES backtracked from company claims to the road service office, getting more details about the spill site. Along the way, CES learned that the fuel was lost over a 200 mile stretch of highway. Conflicting information gathered from the company's various departments describe the spill site as anything from a 4' x 5' stain on asphalt to an 80-gallon mess.

Based on past experience with over-the-road fuel-line spills, the CES incident manager recommended that company claims wait to dispatch a contractor until a more accurate site description could be established. CES then contacted the wrecker driver that was in route and requested a call-back upon his arrival.

Two hours later the mechanic called CES describing the spilled diesel on site as "a small stain that [he] put a little oil-dry on." Within 45 minutes of the initial call, CES issued regulatory notification, closed the file, and saved the client all clean up costs and the mobilization fees that, based on the location of the spill and the overtime hours, would generally have run somewhere around $2,000-$3,000.