Trucking fleets face escalating risks from sophisticated cargo theft, cybercrime, environmental liabilities, and potential nuclear verdicts — but with the right hiring practices, training, and post-incident protocols, carriers can significantly reduce their risk.

This was the central message of a recent TruckNews.com webinar on trucking risk mitigation, sponsored by Echelon Insurance. The webinar featured Rupinder Hayer, assistant vice-president of commercial auto and longhaul trucking at Echelon; Saki Mihas, president of SLS Insurance Brokers; and Nic Wiersma, safety and compliance manager at Bell Cartage.

Panelists agreed that among other safety risks that fleets and drivers are exposed to on the daily basis, cargo theft and nuclear verdicts are ones that can damage a carrier the most.

Protecting your fleet from thieves

Hayer said cargo theft, for example, is increasingly driven by organized groups using technology and deception to impersonate carriers, intercept load confirmations, and strategically steal freight.

He believes fictitious pickups to be the most common form of cargo theft, adding that thieves upskill their methods by faking legitimate carriers’ emails, copying their decals, and even hacking into their TMS to assign loads to themselves. They’re creating fake email addresses, calling the shipper pretending to be dispatchers and everything looks legitimate, Hayer warned.

Mihas said he’s seen criminals hacking into ELDs to retrieve and manipulate carriers’ banking information through the tablet.

To protect yourself against cargo theft, Hayer recommends to train dispatch teams to recognize scam emails and telltale signs of theft, use fax numbers for load requisitions since they are harder to fake, and implement physical security measures like bird’s-eye surveillance in yards.

Bell Cartage’s Wiersma said fleets have to first rely on themselves to protect their assets and loads as police, too, are overwhelmed with the rising volume of cargo theft. At his fleet, for example, surveillance and dispatch are provided 24/7, and constant yard checks are a common practice.

“When we did call for any type of assistance, it took them 18 hours to actually come out,” Wiersma recalled from experience following an incident.

Training, retraining, and documentation

While theft remains a growing external threat, panelists also pointed to internal practices, particularly around cargo securement and driver training, as critical areas where lapses can expose fleets to liability and loss.

Mihas outlined common mistakes carriers make when it comes to cargo securement, including a lack of training and retraining and poor documentation. In his view, these gaps increase operational risk and leave fleets vulnerable when incidents occur and insurers or legal teams begin reviewing internal practices. Fleets have to be able to show what they’ve been doing as a carrier, he said.

Wiersma agreed, noting that Bell Cartage holds monthly or quarterly training sessions focused on different product types, including dry van, flatbed, and oversized loads. “There’s no such thing as [a load] too secure,” he said. The fleet follows North American cargo securement standards (NSC 10) and trains drivers to verify strap ratings, check tag information, and use additional straps when in doubt.

That proactive culture extends beyond the formal training. “I’ve had drivers that have actually FaceTimed me, ask me, ‘Hey Nick, how do I secure this? What do I do?’ And we’ll work it through, step by step,” Wiersma said. “The last thing I want to do is to send a driver down that feels unsecure, unsafe…I always tell drivers, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. It’s always better to ask. Make sure you understand.”

Panelists agreed that proper training and retraining can help improve road safety and avoid nuclear verdicts — jury-awarded payouts that exceed US$10 million.

Nuclear verdicts

Hayer said spill-related incidents involving fuel, hazardous materials, or contaminated soil don’t just result in cleanup costs — they also invite regulatory scrutiny and long-term consequences.

He noted that most environmental claims stem from preventable driver behavior — harsh braking, sharp turns, or inattention in populated areas.

“The best approach is not getting to a situation, and then saving yourself later,” he added, saying that AI, telematics, and dash cams are helping change driver behavior.

Meanwhile, technology like underbelly cameras for pre-trip inspections, and real-time telematics data are giving fleets the tools to detect issues like potential fuel leaks before they escalate.

Hayer recalled one case in which a driver used a spill kit to block a drainage system after a collision, preventing runoff from reaching a city’s water supply. That simple action, he said, likely saved the company millions.

To minimize risk further, he encouraged fleets to dispatch hazardous loads away from water bodies and densely populated areas whenever possible.

While training, equipment, and spill kits can help fleets prevent environmental damage, Mihas warned that the financial consequences of an incident don’t end with cleanup alone, especially when the case lands in a U.S. courtroom.

In one example, a well-trained driver used a mattress to absorb fuel leaking from a punctured tank after a jackknife incident, preventing the spill from reaching a nearby river. Mihas said the quick thinking likely saved the company, as the carrier already had a few significant claims on file, and another penalty would have pushed it out of business.

That kind of risk becomes even more pronounced for Canadian carriers operating cross-border, where litigation exposure is higher and legal outcomes can be unpredictable. Mihas shared a case where a judge in Texas made it clear to his client whose side the court was on: “That’s literally what he said. ‘You’re stealing from our economy. And you hurt our citizen.’…They know we carry high limits. They know our insurance companies [and that] we require high minimum limits. We’re on their soil. If we go to court for bodily injury, they’re going to award their citizen.”

It starts with the driver

For Bell Cartage, preventing claims and improving fleet safety begins long before a driver hits the road — it starts with the hiring process. Wiersma says he pays close attention not just to what a candidate says, but how they communicate, whether they cut corners during equipment checks, and how they handle their documentation and take feedback.

“There are lots of drivers out there [but] everybody wants professional drivers,” he said.

Bell’s driver evaluation process includes an extended road test that can last several hours, not a quick 15-minute loop. During that time, Wiersma observes how applicants perform pre- and post-trip inspections, whether they properly check fluids and belts, and how seriously they treat the condition of the equipment.

What matters just as much is how a driver responds to coaching. “If they get very defensive, negative towards it, typically, I would probably send them down the road and say, ‘We wish you the best of luck,’” Wiersma said. Hiring drivers who are open to improvement and committed to doing things right, he added, lays the foundation for a culture of safety that training and technology alone can’t build.

After the incident: Document, report, preserve

When a collision happens, how fleets respond in the first few hours can make or break the outcome of a claim.

“Claims reported within the first 24 hours are reduced tremendously in payouts,” said Mihas. “Report everything, even if you think [the claim] is not going to happen.”

Timely communication isn’t just about flagging claims — it’s about building a legal defense from the start. Hayer emphasized that too many fleets lose critical ground by waiting too long or failing to preserve evidence.

He warned that delays can lead to gaps that plaintiffs will exploit, as they like to wait until the near-end of the statute of limitations. “By then, the driver has gone, and you have gotten low on documentation. You have forgotten things. And then there’ll be almost a list of 30 items which lawyers are going to ask, including drivers sending the meal receipts, for the last two years before the accident, or six months of trailer inspection reports, or one year [of] phone history.”

Driver communication is another crucial area. Hayer said drivers should be trained not to apologize or admit fault at the scene, even casually. “Many times we have seen when it comes to the driver, [they] say, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ So these little gestures, they go against them…don’t convey whether you are at fault or not. Don’t discuss the accident.”

Instead, he recommends that drivers ask whether anyone is injured, contact dispatch immediately, and wait for instructions.

Wiersma outlined his own process, which begins with an immediate call to the driver, checking up on their physical and mental wellbeing, and includes reviewing telematics data, verifying sleep and routing patterns, conducting drug and alcohol testing, and coordinating with dispatch to preserve internal records.

Across the board, the panelists agreed: early response, strong documentation, and clear training are essential to protect the fleet, the driver, and the business.

For more tips on reducing risks for your fleet, watch the recording of the webinar here.