4 Tips to Minimize Credit Card Risk

by | Dec 3, 2019 | Risk Management | 0 comments

4 Tips to Minimize Credit Card Risk

Credit card fraud is everywhere and it’s scary, especially for tree services!

Just this past week, an underground website called Jokers Stash claimed to have 4 million credit card numbers for sale taken from fast food chains and that is just the most recent example.

Because most tree services accept credit cards in some manner, I consulted with Spencer Shimon of Heartland Payment Systems, the nation’s 5th largest payment card processor, to learn how tree care companies can minimize their credit card risk.

The first thing Spencer mentioned was that the lowest risk transaction will always be one that done in person by you or your team; via Swipe, EMV (Chip Card), or Contactless (entering directly into a web portal). When doing this you do not keep any of the information as the service is paid for right away.

If you ever write down credit card information, whether taking the payment over the phone or asking for the payment information online, you are subjecting your company to a much higher risk level, ultimately risking higher processing rates.

That said, Spencer’s four tips to reduce your risk are:

Mobile Card Reader – Get a mobile card reader and encourage your team to take payments out in the field. This way, no credit card information is written down or stored by your company and will help ensure you’re being PCI compliant. If you do have to write the credit card number down, you must shred that document immediately after use. It should also help you get payment faster!
Proper Information – Make sure you get as much information as possible when taking a payment over the phone. If you’re only getting the Card Number, CVV, and Expiration, then you’re missing very important consumer verification information. Always get the Zip Code and billing address to go along with the credit card info to ensure your customer is using their credit card.
Verify – Make sure you have a system that’s designed to catch user errors. Mistakes happen, and people give the wrong information and sometimes enter the wrong information. Understand the credit card processing fees that your business is being charged is based on your level of risk. Catching those mismatches will help in paying less fees over time.
Documentation – Keep good documentation on what services were agreed upon and what is being paid for with the credit card. If your gut tells you that something is fishy about the way the customer wants to pay for the services, ask more questions and get everything in writing. You don’t want to have a customer paying for your services with a stolen card.
If you or anyone on your team is interested in finding out how to make sure you are PCI compliant, or interested in reducing your overall risk for processing credit cards, please reach out to a Thrive member today!.

Spencer Shimon is a Relationship Manager for Heartland Payment Systems, the 5th largest processor in the United States. They deliver credit/debit/prepaid card processing, mobile commerce, e-commerce, marketing solutions, security technology, payroll solutions, and related business solutions and services to more than 400,000 business and educational locations nationwide.

https://www.merchantbillofrights.org/

Written by: Malcolm Jeffris, CTSP

1 Storm – 4 lives

by | Nov 26, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

1 Storm – 4 Lives. When will enough be enough?

Storms ripped through northern Wisconsin on July 19th and 20th, 2019 toppling thousands of trees and causing a tremendously dangerous cleanup effort, which in turn ended in tragedy for 4 individuals. Four separate deaths have been reported from tree cleanup activities related to this storm. Four!!

While the details about each of these events are still under investigation, multiple factors played a role in these four families being changed forever.

Were these individuals Certified Arborists or have any training in professional tree care? Were they getting paid to do the storm cleanup work or just helping out a friend or neighbor? I don’t know those answers and not to sound crass, frankly I don’t care. They died and they shouldn’t have.

How can we as an industry still allow this to happen? How can we as human beings still allow this to happen?

After attending my first ANSI Z133 meeting this past April as a guest, I made a commitment to myself and the people that I work with both on my team and my clients that I would read every one of the Accident Briefs in the TCIA Magazine to learn even more about what is happening every day in the tree care industry. Reading these small articles does one major thing for me, it pisses me off. It pisses me off that people are still dying and severely injuring themselves almost daily.

It’s said that the pain of change is only acceptable when the pain of remaining stagnant is unbearable. Well I’ve hit that point. One storm and four deaths is unacceptable.

While traveling home from the second Z meeting that I have attended I could not help but write this article as I feel responsible that four of my fellow Wisconsinites won’t be celebrating Christmas this year. They won’t be able to enjoy another Green Bay Packer Super Bowl victory or be able to choose to retire when they want. Their fate was sealed and now all that is left are a bunch of “what if’s”.

So where are you going with this Eric? Every one of us has a responsibility to ourselves and our community (family members, neighbors, employees, coworkers) to help put an end to this mayhem. Pick up a copy of the Z133. Study it. Ask questions about it. Talk to everyone you can about it. But most importantly, follow it! These safety standards were written in blood. Don’t let the next one be written about your blood or someone’s that you love.

Join me in the fight that together we can make a difference and help every arborist get home safe each night.

Written by: Eric Petersen

Peer to Peer Gear Inspection

by | Nov 4, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Peer to Peer Gear Inspection

By Peggy Drescher

The first step to an accident involves the false belief that experience makes you invulnerable. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all work-related fatalities in the United States come from making a mistake while doing routine work.

Every year at the International Society of Arboriculture International Tree Climbing Championship – World Championship, they hold a gear inspection for climbers and volunteers. Guidelines are maintained regarding competition gear and all competitors and all volunteers who will be working aloft during a competition or its set-up must submit to an inspection of all equipment and equipment systems before entering an event safety zone. This is one of the most important aspects of this competition. If your gear does not pass inspection, you do not participate unless it is corrected and passed by the head judge.

Why not take this routine and build it into your safety program? Although employees should be checking their gear on a daily basis, thoughts like, “I checked it yesterday, my gear is all right, I’ve climbed on it a hundred times, nothings gone wrong, etc.” normalizing and complacency can get in the way.

One way to combat this issue is to do a peer to peer gear inspection on a monthly basis. Some tips to get this going in your company.

You need commitment if you want to establish and sustain an effective new program so make sure you and your management/safety team are on board. You are steering the ship!
Write it into your safety policy. For example, we will perform a peer to peer gear inspection every month on the first Wednesday after dispatch.

Explain it to your crew why this is important and that this is to support the idea of helping each other out. It is not to bust people – it is because you care about each other and another set of eyes is always helpful. It is to correct a conflict with equipment that could cause an accident.
This can be a great way to mentor new employees. Have a veteran employee paired up with a newer employee. Hopefully this will help to invite questions from your crew as to why someone may think the gear is lacking in some way. It is imperative that your employees feel comfortable asking questions and bringing issues up to each other. Or perhaps you can have the crew that is working together that day check each other’s gear out.

Always have a specific area designated for this inspection. Whether this is outside or in a corner of your shop, a dedicated space brings validity to the importance of the gear check and eliminates an excuse for not doing it.

If something has to be taken out of service you must have a backup inventory so there isn’t temptation to ask or allow someone to use the flawed gear for the sake of production.

Train employees on how to properly inspect equipment. Explain it is your duty as part of the Z-133 safety requirements.

Gear inspection should be a dialog, a safe place for employees and management to talk to each other. Encourage your team to take not only responsibility for themselves but others too!

Here are some other helpful links surrounding safety and gear checks…

https://www.itcc-isa.com/Portals/0/Docs/2018-ITCC-Gear-Check-Form.pdf

https://www.itcc-isa.com/Portals/0/docs/rules_Equipment_2016GearCheckInstructions.pdf

Who Your Safety Director is Matters

by | Oct 29, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Who Your Safety Director Is Matters

A Safety Director is an important position in your company. But why do we just put any person available in this position? We, as an industry, must put a person in the Safety Director’s position that is fully equipped for the job. We sometimes give this position the last thought when hiring people. Why is that? Safety is the most important part of our job; yet we do not want to spend the resources into hiring the right person to fill the Safety Director position. A proper Safety Director can make or break your tree care business. Improper handling of the staff can create chaos in your company; proper handling of the staff will create a culture in your business where safety flourishes.

To fill the Safety Director position, you must find a person who is fluent with climbing skills, grounds person skills, equipment guidelines, PHC guidelines and MSDS rules, ANSI Z and OSHA Standards, computer skills, record keeping, training skills, middle management skills, etc. He or she must be familiar with all these skills – excellent at some, good at others, but able to perform all of them. He or she must be a strong personality that can handle safety infractions and incidents with a calm manner. This may include things such as a consequence schedule established for safety infractions – first offense warning, second offense suspension, third offense termination. At all times, the Safety Director should be seeking out information to help educate themselves and then educate their crews.

All these actions are hard on the Safety Director – to take disciplinary actions and apply them to crew members, and at times what used to be fellow crew members. They need to establish a culture that promotes safety. They need to be available to have safety talks with each crew or individually. They need to be understanding and firm at the same time.

Make sure you choose a level headed person for this position. Do extensive interviews, ask the right questions, have the person applying for the position do a performance test such as climb the tree, run the chipper, or PHC treatments. There is nothing wrong in testing their knowledge. After all, your crew’s safety and your money are on the line.

Make sure as a company owner you fill the position with a qualified person for the Safety Director position. Make sure they have enough well-rounded experience; your crews will recognize a Safety Director that is trying too hard to convince the crews of his knowledge in some area or acts like an expert – and in all truth is not an expert. Choose someone that the company can trust and is a welcome help rather than a hindrance.

For more help with your hiring and recruiting needs, contact an ArboRisk crew member today!

Written by: Dawn Thierbach

Know Your Crew

by | Oct 15, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Importance of Knowing Your Crew

Written by Margaret Hebert

If one of your employees acted dizzy, shaky, and confused, would you just assume they had a few too many the night before and tell them to work it off?

However, if you knew this employee is diabetic and knew that these are symptoms of low blood sugar, you’d be much more concerned and would take appropriate action.

This is just one example of the importance of knowing your crew when it comes to serious health concerns.

Although most non-fatal tree worker incidents are due to trauma, there are also incidents related to illnesses and medical conditions. It’s important that you and your crew members are not only aware of any serious medical conditions fellow workers have, but also know how to properly respond to emergencies that may arise as a result.

Two common chronic medical conditions are diabetes and allergies. Both conditions can require prescription medications, so it’s important to know about the condition and make sure they carry the medication with them.

A person with diabetes may exhibit symptoms of high blood sugar or low blood sugar. Since low blood sugar occurs when the person doesn’t eat enough food for the energy they are exerting, this is likely to be what happens with tree workers. Symptoms of low blood sugar include shakiness, confusion, dizziness, headache, excess sweating, excess hunger, irritability, and pale skin.

Diabetics should always carry with them sugary food and/or drinks in case they experience low blood sugar. They may even carry glucose tablets that are made specifically for treating this condition. Co-workers should know where these are in case the person needs help getting them. If the person becomes unconscious, call 911 immediately and do not force food or drink.

Someone with severe allergies can experience anaphylaxis, or anaphylactic shock, when exposed to an allergen such as certain foods, insect stings, or plants like poison ivy. Anaphylaxis includes swelling of the airway and a sudden drop in blood pressure, both which are life threatening. Always make sure anyone who has been prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector has it with them, that crew members are aware of the allergy(ies), and that crew members know where the auto-injector is kept and how to use it.

Because of the critical nature of anaphylactic shock and because a second reaction called biphasic reaction can occur as long as 12 hours after the initial reaction, you should call 911 and get to the nearest emergency facility even if epinephrine has been administered and the person seems “fine.”

These and other conditions and how to respond to them are covered in your first aid/CPR training that is required by ANSI Z133 – 2017 Safety Requirements, section 3.2.5. Keep current with your training and “Know Your Crew!”