SEPTEMBER 20, 2023
Fleet Safety Managers Should Train and Supervise
Safety Managers are responsible for the training, supervision and the maintenance of safety programs for delivery drivers to minimize risk. Following a set of best practices, overseeing a fleet operation can be much safer. Learn the key skills of fleet safety managers. Below are just some common Best Practices.
- Write policies and procedures in an employee handbook that address distracted driving, hazard perception, distracted driving, customer service, maintenance, fueling, daily mileage driven, and any other areas of safety important to your fleet of delivery drivers.
- Require all new hires and existing fleet delivery drivers to read and sign your employee handbook coupled with a minimum orientation over your protocols for 1 to 3 days. At the conclusion of the orientation provide written testing over comprehension and require that any fleet driver that does not score a comprehension level of above 75%, require them to go through a second orientation until they can test at 75% and above.
- Write and create a driver training program that focuses on defensive driving techniques and accident-avoidance techniques as well as other safety measures. Use periodic retraining and testing so that your current fleet of delivery drivers always understand and comprehend company policy on safety and productivity.
- Hold weekly safety meetings with groups of fleet drivers to teach any changes to existing safety protocols and have all fleet delivery drivers sign meeting attendance sheets documenting the safety topic or other topic that is discussed. Maintain those documents as a permanent business record.
- Purchase software technology with GPS tracking and a telematics system to monitor the behavior of your fleet of delivery drivers. Program the software to study erratic driving behavior, rapid acceleration, rapid deceleration, overly sharp turns, and other human factors behaviors so that you can monitor their ability to drive safely to avoid preventable accidents and which minimizes property damage incidents and crashes leading to bodily injury or wrongful death.
- Establish a 3-strike rule and clearly delineate your company disciplinary policy in the company handbook. This system should provide a warning after their first strike for bad behavior, suspension on their second strike, and termination for any bad behavior that occurs 3 times to reduce motor vehicle crashes and incidents causing property damage or human bodily injuries.
- Use strict hiring standards for all fleet delivery drivers that use criminal, employment, and motor vehicle background and record checks to ensure that the newly hired fleet delivery driver is not a danger or hazard to other motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
- Use strict drug and alcohol testing upon the initial hire and randomly test all delivery fleet drivers for the use of alcohol and intoxicating drugs, including prescription drugs. Establish a strict hiring policy that does not hire any unsafe drivers and will follow the 3-strike rule of discipline to eliminate fleet delivery drivers who drive while intoxicated on alcohol or illegal and prescription drugs.
- Establish a strict policy against distracted driving that requires all fleet delivery drivers not text while driving and which requires communication only while using hands free devices to speak.
- Establish a customer complaint and toll-free hotline so that all other drivers who may encounter your fleet delivery drivers and see a placard on their delivery vehicle with the phone number to make formal complaints against bad behavior of the fleet delivery drivers.
- Use phone systems or communication systems that have 2-way communication tools so all your fleet delivery drivers can easily contact dispatch to communicate about any safety problems or accidents occurring on their routes.
- Establish a daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance schedule for all fleet delivery vehicles to ensure that the fleet delivery vehicles are safe to operate. Use periodic maintenance schedules to create fleet management reports for the head manager of safety and to the head manager of operations.
- Implement driver incentive programs with the focus on customer satisfaction, productivity and obeying state and federal laws and regulations. Provide bonuses, recognitions, and other incentive rewards for safe drivers. Make a monthly publication for all fleet delivery drivers to receive and have access to learn how their fellow fleet drivers are doing to create an atmosphere of safety and company awareness with the thought of always preventing motor vehicle crashes.
- Create an auditing system over fleet driver logs, vehicle maintenance inspections, and safety violations.
- Meet with your fleet delivery drivers on a regular basis to listen to their concerns and to communicate company expectations of fleet delivery drivers. Always have safety coaching to the group during the meetings to listen to feedback from drivers and to educate them on company policy regarding safe and defensive driving policies.
- Analyze all GPS and telematics data on a regular basis to study the metrics related to driver productivity and driver safety compliance to evaluate driver behaviors, compliance with driving laws, and regulations and industry required standards of care.
- Attend industry seminars teaching industry trends, regulations, and tools to oversee and manage your fleet of delivery drivers.
By establishing clearly written and concise policies about company protocols on driver compliance with safety rules and compliance with all laws and regulations you will improve your productivity, customer satisfaction, and will reduce the average cost of motor vehicle crashes and incidents. This will lead to decreased insurance costs for liability claims and workers' compensation claims to the company. By using safety principles related to preventability you will have a much safer and more productive fleet of delivery drivers.
Fleet Driver Safety Training Programs Help Prevent Fleet Delivery Drivers from Causing Car Accidents and Bodily Injuries to Other Drivers in Kansas
Due to a growing trend of motor vehicle accidents between Fleet Delivery Drivers and other ordinary drivers in Kansas and across the United States, it is necessary to have training programs that teach the delivery drivers about defensive driving and accident prevention techniques as well as about how to avoid injuries and motor vehicle crashes.
There are several ways that Fleet Managers over a fleet of delivery drivers can train their drivers to prevent motor vehicle accidents and injuries.
Defensive driving courses.
The normal defensive driving course for truck drivers and fleet delivery drivers will include a short course and manual with a test about their knowledge about safe following distances, keeping cushions of space around the vehicle, how to scan for hazards and maintain appropriate speeds. These courses teach fleet delivery drivers how to drive safely and avoid accidents with other cars, trucks, motorcycles, and pedestrians.
Fatigue avoidance.
All fleet delivery drivers and drivers of tractor-trailers and other large trucks and motor vehicles must be taught to only drive a certain distance within so many hours or days. This helps them learn that when they are tired and fatigued it causes them to be distracted and causes motor vehicle accidents causing bodily injury and property damage.
Accident reporting for DOT licensed fleet vehicles.
Fleet delivery drivers must be trained on how to avoid accidents and when they do cause an accident they can be injured and the other driver can be injured or killed. Different requirements exist for DOT licensed trucks and motor vehicles and if an accident happens their record keeping requirements Under 49 CFR 390.15, the trucking company must keep a register of all crashes in the past three years. The accident register must contain the date of the crash, the location and nearest city and state, the driver's name, the number of injuries and fatalities. Additionally, it must record whether hazardous materials were released.
Accident reporting for non-DOT fleets of delivery drivers.
If the fleet vehicle is not DOT licensed the accident reporting requirements are much less and vary from state to state. The best practices would be to conform to the same requirements for DOT licensed fleet vehicles and trucks.
Training in proper lifting techniques.
This requires proper lifting, keeping the back straight, using weight belts and lifting with the legs. This prevents workers' compensation claims for back injuries. It also includes training on the proper use of two-wheel and four-wheel rolling carts, hand trucks and dollies. All the training is to help reduce injuries to the back and spine.
Medical evaluations.
The training includes requiring the fleet delivery drivers to get regular and annual medical checkups for driver health and wellness. Drivers must be trained about how certain medical conditions can cause significant problems for the drivers to safely operate their fleet delivery vehicles. They need to understand that they should exercise regularly and keep to a proper diet to avoid losing their driving jobs.
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Experienced fleet delivery injury lawyers are properly trained to be able to question the fleet delivery driver and their Fleet Manager and Safety Manager over whether they were properly trained on safety protocols. If they are not, both the driver causing the accident and their employer are subject to liability for your bodily injuries.
Bull Attorneys Injury Lawyers are personal injury lawyers with offices in Wichita and Garden City, Kansas. You can call 316-684-4400 in Wichita and 620-843-2855 in Garden City. Our experienced Kansas fleet delivery driver accident injury attorneys concentrate on Truck Accidents, Tractor-Trailers accidents, Fleet and Delivery Driver Accidents, Car Accidents and Motorcycle Accidents causing bodily injury.