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In the highly competitive pizza segment, the nation's three delivery giants closely guard their impending product debuts and new marketing campaigns as though they are top-secret wartime strategies.

Yet no matter how much tensions rise on the sales battlefield, these fierce rivals --Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa John's -- wave a white flag when it comes to the safety of their delivery drivers.

In fact, the national security directors of those billion-dollar pizza chains say it is not an uncommon practice for them to share information, particularly when it comes to criminal activity in a neighborhood in which all three deliver.

"I talk to my fellow safety directors at Pizza Hut and Papa John's," says George Ralph, national director of safety and security of Domino's Pizza in Ann Arbor, Mich., whose 4,450 US. units make it the nation's second-largest pizza chain. "There shouldn't be competition when it comes to the safety of our people. As far as we are concerned, the safety of our drivers is the number-one priority for our company."

Ralph says he encourages Domino's store managers to share information with rivals, especially if a crime against a driver has occurred.

"If we have a driver robbed, I sure wouldn't want to see Pizza Hut or Papa John's send a driver to that same area," he says. "And I would hope that our competitors are doing the same."

"We talk quite a bit," agrees Richard DeSoto, director of loss prevention for Dallas-based Pizza Hut, which has more than 8,000 U.S. units but, unlike its two rivals, doesn't offer delivery systemwide. "I think the message is that even though there is a lot of competition in sales, there is no competition when it comes to protecting our employees. We share information if it is going to have an impact on the safety of our employees. We encourage sharing that kind of information with our managers."

Those three chains face the enormous task of ensuring the safety of hundreds of thousands of drivers nationwide. According to officials at Domino's, the chain's domestic branches have 53,979 people delivering pizzas at any given time.

Pizza Hut estimates that throughout its corporate-owned stores alone it employs more than 20,000 full- and part-time drivers. And Papa John's has some 15,000 drivers working at its 600 corporate restaurants.

None of those companies would disclose their security budgets or even estimate how many dollars support driver safety, but all three entities insist the amount is substantial. Both Pizza Hut and Domino's said they spend "millions of dollars" on safety, and while Papa John's offered no number, the chain says that issue is a top priority.

"It is one of our largest focuses in terms of structuring a loss-control program," says Tom Thompson, vice president of risk management, safety and security for the Louisville, Ky.-based Papa John's, which has more than 2,400 stores nationwide. "We focus on keeping our drivers safe and secure."

The security chiefs of all three chains agree that safety begins with the recruiting process, principally hiring only those individuals who have clean driving records and safe automobiles -- with routine inspections of wipers, breaks and lights completed about once every six months.

Despite the country's enormous labor shortage, the three pizza operators say their policies are strictly adhered to even if it means that a restaurant is left understaffed.

"You can't compromise the safety of the public because of the need for drivers," DeSoto explains. "It is a tough situation. We have many stores where we need more drivers."

That point is echoed by Rich Spicher, vice president of operations for Wisconsin Hospitality Group, an 87-unit Pizza Hut franchisee based in Wauwatosa, Wis.

"All but 16 of our restaurants deliver, and we have close to 10 drivers per restaurant, so we have about 500 drivers throughout our system," Spicher says. "Drivers are a commodity. They are hard to get. That has been a challenge for us."

All three chains also face similar struggles when it comes to restricting delivery in high-crime neighborhoods, an issue that has sparked lawsuits as well as a national debate about perceived discrimination vs. concerns for the safety of delivery personnel.

Averting what potentially could have been a federal lawsuit, Domino's Pizza Inc. reached an agreement this summer with the Justice Department to formalize a delivery policy for all its restaurants. Mirroring what Domino's said were longstanding standard practices, the new guidelines require managers to evaluate crime statistics with local law enforcement agencies and community groups before limiting delivery. As part of that policy, drivers must report any incidences of violence, and delivery limits must be drawn narrowly.

Rivals Pizza Hut and Papa John's say they follow similar guidelines, and they also agree that limiting a delivery area requires a delicate balancing act that has no easy answers.

"To some extent Domino's was picked on a bit," Thompson says. "If you look at UPS or the U.S. Post Office or anyone that delivers, you would see that we all face the same problems."

Striving to achieve the same goal of delivering as many pies as possible, all three national chains say it is in their best interest to keep delivery restrictions to a minimum. Often operators share information about neighborhoods when they try to access the risks of a particular area. Limits are set on a case-by-case basis with input from many individuals, including the local store managers, police and community groups.

"The goal is to deliver to as many places as possible, but we won't send our drivers into an unsafe area," says DeSoto, who formerly worked as a detective with the metropolitan police department m Washington, D.C.

"We may start off by restricting a time period, like after 7 or 8 at night," adds DeSoto -- who before joining Pizza Hut was the director of security for fast-food behemoth McDonald's Corp. in Oak Brook, Ill. "We may deliver to the rental office of an apartment complex rather than sending our drivers into the hallways of a building. But we don't arbitrarily cut off an entire area."

Thompson, who has worked in risk management since 1967, says Papa John's takes a similar approach to its delivery practices.

"It is not a clear-cut issue with a definitive answer," he explains. "We try to keep close tabs on neighborhoods, so if a situation changes, then we can resume delivery."

Thompson adds, "My compass point is that if I wouldn't let my son or daughter work in a restaurant or make a delivery, how can I ask someone else's son or daughter to do it? That is the compass point I use when assessing all of our policies and procedures regarding safety".

When it comes to training programs, the pizza giants take similar approaches, relying on a combination of written materials and videos. Trainees usually spend time with more seasoned drivers to gain some on-the-job experience.

"We have strict policies about what a driver does when he feels he is in danger," DeSoto says. "If a driver gets to a home and sees that it is dark, we tell him not to make the delivery Instead, he should come back to the store, and we will call the customer so they can turn the porch light on."

Benefiting from advances in technology, pizza operators rely on caller identification systems to verify orders from new customers. They also encourage their drivers not to wear expensive jewelry, and most require drivers to "cash out" on each delivery which means that they deposit all the money from a delivery at the restaurant before leaving the store again.

Domino's says its safety measures are paying off, according to Ralph, who formerly was a detective with the Washtenaw County Sheriff's office in Michigan. The chain has experienced a 10-percent reduction in crime over the last three years.

"A lot of that relates back to technology, like caller identification," he explains. "We try to get our customers more involved in watching out for our drivers. Our drivers realize that in most cases, if they follow the proper procedures, they won't be a victim."

Domino's has an extensive incentive program that rewards drivers based on the number of hours worked without having an accident or receiving a ticket. "Drivers are entitled to different incentives as they progress," Ralph explains, adding that rewards run the gamut from $500 in cash to $3,000 in cash depending on the number of hours worked.

"The program is three years old, and it works well," Ralph says. "Our drivers really like it."

At Domino's annual awards banquet, the chain recognizes the top 20 drivers throughout the system. From that group, the chain selects its top full-and part-time driver, based on the results of both a written test and a simulated driving course, and each receives $5,000 in cash.

"It is great recognition for our drivers, and it is a constant reminder about the importance of safe driving," Ralph says.