When you own a business, it is critical to protect all assets, including your fleet and drivers. Ensuring proper safety protocols is critical since it can reduce the number of accidents. There are several ways you can reduce accident rates and boost fleet safety.
Choosing Safety Technology and Telematics
The purpose of your fleet often determines the best technology to get the job done. For example, if you transport cold products, you will want to find a specialized solution. Reefer Monitoring Solutions offers refrigeration monitoring for cost-effective control, monitoring, and compliance for refrigerated assets. This will ensure they stay cold enough during the trip.
There is also plenty of tech designed to give you real-time insights so you can create improvement plans for your employees. These plans can improve drivers’ behavior so they are safer on the roads. Some technology allows you to determine the speed each vehicle is driving and whether they are accelerating or braking too quickly. Some devices can determine if your drivers are using a seatbelt or not. Others detect certain motion in the cab of a vehicle so you can determine whether or not the driver is focused on the road. And you can also block phones from getting calls and messages.
Coming Up with a Safety Plan
You likely have other safety plans in place such as keeping data safe, and the physical building in which you run your business, so it should not come as a surprise that the right driver safety policy will put your drivers first. Ensure you limit the number of hours they drive before having a break and have a plan to ensure everyone can see.
You might require their sight to be within certain parameters, whether or not they need correction to get there. Come up with specific policies, such as ones on collisions, vehicle care, and driving records. Let drivers know about clear consequences for things like DUIs or license suspensions. Once you have this policy, everyone should read it and sign it. But don’t stop there. You should also send out regular updates to remind drivers about various aspects of the policy.
Caring for Vehicles
Safety begins when you first select the vehicle, so incorporate it into your vehicle decisions. For example, if you live in a cold area, you might need them to come with four-wheel drive for the winter months. Or you might need to invest in chains or snow tires for use in the colder parts of the year. And some vehicles have automatic braking in emergencies, which could prevent an accident. Think of these things when you are choosing your ideal vehicles, while also using Efficient machine safety services to make sure everything is the way is supposed to be.
After you get them, you should still keep up with safety. Preventive maintenance can reduce costs in the long run. It might seem less expensive to skip the recommended maintenance on your fleet, but it can end up being dangerous. You should ensure regular inspection of all vehicles and check for any recalls. By doing this regularly, you can improve the safety, performance, and efficiency of the entire fleet.
Rewarding the Right Behavior
You can add a rewards program to your safety policy. That way, your employees will be motivated to work towards better habits, which can reduce accidents. You could add payment plans, bonuses, or paid vacation time.
