Your employees are your most valuable assets and you wouldn’t be able to deliver a top-quality experience without your fleet drivers. When they drive your company’s fleet vehicles, they represent your business out in your community. How can you be sure that your fleet drivers are safely operating your fleet vehicles and mitigate the risk of an accident? That’s where a fleet safety program can protect your team and keep your community safe. Keep reading to learn more!
Quick Links:
- What Is a Fleet Safety Program?
- Why You Need a Fleet Safety Program
- 5 Essentials of a Fleet Safety Program
- 3 Steps for Developing and Implementing a Fleet Safety Program
What Is a Fleet Safety Program?
A fleet safety program basically outlines the policies and procedures inherent to making a safe work environment for employees. These might include which qualities to look for when hiring for fleet driver positions, expectations for training that drivers should complete, daily driving habits to monitor over a period of time, and more. Determining these components of your fleet safety program helps hold you and your fleet drivers accountable, especially when the program is customized to fit the needs of your fleet.
Having a formalized fleet safety program can also help protect against liability in the event of vehicle accidents. While there’s no way to guarantee that an accident won’t happen—there’s a reason they’re called accidents—establishing a set of protocols that pertain to screening, training, and tracking drivers and their behaviors on the road can help mitigate the chance.
Why You Need a Fleet Safety Program
Regardless of the size of your fleet—whether you’re managing three vehicles or 30—it’s a good practice to have a fleet safety program in place for your employees. Establishing such a program can provide several benefits, including improved safety for your drivers and the community they work in, boosted employee satisfaction with clear expectations, the ability to streamline fleet operations, and more.
When you take a comprehensive approach to fleet safety, from the hiring process for fleet drivers to maintaining fleet vehicles and monitoring recent driving habits, you demonstrate how much you value your employees and the community you serve. Since most fleet drivers will travel an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 miles per year, there’s a greater risk of getting into an accident. That’s why implementing a fleet safety program is crucial to empower your fleet drivers to take all safety measures when on the road.
5 Essentials of a Fleet Safety Program
When constructing a fleet safety program for your company, consider the following foundational elements:
Rigorous Driver Screening
Driving a fleet vehicle is a tremendous responsibility and can have a significant impact on the perception of your business in your community. That’s why it’s essential to thoroughly verify the driver’s history and motor vehicle records before handing over the keys. Of course, this includes validating their driving license is in good standing, but it also means you’ll want to check for any traffic violations, impaired driving incidents, and more. Seek legal counsel to outline a rigorous background check that is compliant with your state’s laws.
Comprehensive Driver Training
Sure, accidents happen—but what are your drivers doing to ensure they’re alert and utilizing defensive driving tactics to minimize their risk of a crash? Including a driver training component in your fleet safety program is a cornerstone effort to reduce dangerous driving habits and keep your drivers on the alert for dangerous driving conditions. Training programs might include safe driving techniques, best practices for backing in and parking, local regulations, and more. Work with your team to determine how frequently this training needs to be updated to maintain safety and compliance.
Clear Expectations Regarding Vehicle Use
It should go without saying, but it’s important to put it in writing as well: only authorized employees should be driving company vehicles. It’s also important to note that even authorized employees shouldn’t be using the company car for personal errands. Family members or friends shouldn’t be driving your fleet vehicles unless given explicit permission after passing select criteria for operating the vehicle. The math is simple—additional miles, especially when unnecessary and not related to work, equates to an additional risk of an accident.
Scheduled Vehicle Inspections and Maintenance
Inspecting your fleet vehicles for excessive wear and performing scheduled maintenance can extend the life of the vehicle while also keeping your driver safe. Regularly servicing your fleet vehicles ensures everything is working as expected and can help resolve small issues that might result in downtime if left unattended. Develop a checklist for daily vehicle inspections to keep your vehicles, driver, and community safe.
Crash and Accident Reporting Procedures
In the event of an accident, it’s vital that your driver has all the necessary paperwork in the car for reporting to the authorities and that the driver knows what the procedure is for after an accident. This includes vehicle registration, pertinent licenses, insurance papers, and a checklist of steps to follow. Be sure the fleet vehicle driver knows which precautions to take at the scene and how to best document the accident.
3 Steps for Developing and Implementing a Fleet Safety Program
Ready to take action to develop a fleet safety program at your company? Follow these steps to get started:
1. Get Commitment from Management
When implementing a new program, it’s vital for its success that you get commitment from management to support the plan. Especially regarding safety, your company’s leadership should wholly support a fleet safety program since that demonstrates their commitment to employee safety and will thus be embraced by everyone in the company.
2. Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Your employees won’t know what they should do in certain situations if it’s not properly outlined in a widely accessible document. Compile a series of standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding all the information that drivers need to know; such topics might include driver qualifications, licensing requirements, insurance regulations, daily responsibilities with the fleet vehicle, procedures for accidents, and more. Customize the SOPs to reflect the specificities of your organization.
3. Monitor Driver Behavior with GPS Tracking Solutions from Rastrac
GPS tracking solutions can greatly improve driver safety and daily driving performance, plus help optimize your fleet’s operations! With telematics, you can monitor speed, harsh braking, pinpoint the exact location of the fleet vehicle, track patterns of usage, and more to have comprehensive insight into the status of your fleet vehicles. After all, fleets using smart telematics have reduced “safety incidents” by 42% since implementing software that monitors driver behavior.
Rastrac has introduced our latest GPS tracking device and fleet safety tools: RastracVision! Our smart dashboard cameras provide unparalleled protection for every driver, vehicle, and asset in your fleet. You’ll be able to monitor drivers and their locations in real-time while also seeing what the road ahead of the driver looks like. This means you can identify unsafe driving habits and correct them before an incident occurs that could cost you legal fees, insurance expenses, vehicle repairs, damaged assets, and higher worker’s compensation premiums—not to mention the reputational damage.
RastracVision comes in two options: Premium and Basic; this technology can alert the driver in real-time of dangerous behaviors like lane departure, forward collision, and improper habits such as using mobile phones or not wearing seat belts. The footage is also stored in the cloud to enable fleet managers to review driving habits with drivers to boost performance and safety.
Contact us today to see how Rastrac’s GPS tracking solutions can streamline your fleet’s performance and overall safety program for your drivers and the community you serve.
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