Fleet Safety, Case Study Example

Introduction

The most notable area in the worker safety programs that created attention entailed the high frequency of car crashes that claim a substantial amount of injury claims among workers. Drivers were expected to cover between 12,000 and 15,000 miles every year which increases the chances of being involved in car collision due to greater exposure to such risks (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001). In addition, the crashes are associated with substantial damage to property and losses in worker productivity that are attributed to missed sales thus leading to revenue loss. The crashes also lead to revenue loss due to third-party liabilities. The fleet motor cars in majority of the companies are self-insured thus the burdens of most of these costs are borne by the company.

Nature of accidents and relevant measures

Considering the costs that are attributed to fleet crashes, their severity as well as the frequency associated with crashes in fleet, proactive measures for fleet safety is a mandatory requirement in any organization. The action entailed involving the employees in classroom instructions for four hours followed by behind the wheel session covering three hours. Reduction of incidents of fleet safety was anticipated to address three critical areas which are the new hires, the mid-level managers as well as high-risk drivers.

The most vulnerable class of workers is the new hires who have been associated with higher echelons of risk as compared to the tenured workers. The high risks among new hires are attributed to the process of process of adaptation and familiarizing to their new jobs, the new customers, territory, policies, products as well as the vehicle. The new hires are also anxious about good performance thence making them to rush to tasks and over-schedule and these are potential causes of fleet crashes. The new hires therefore needs to be engaged in training programs to orient them driver safety basic principles that is part of the orientation program offered by the internal members of staff (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2001).

It was also prudent to target the middle level managers in intervention programs. They were associated with remarkable influence in their reports behaviors in notable aspects of their job such as driving. The participation of the managers in the training program was attributed to their direct reports as well as enhances their supervision on the driving skills of the employees. The sales managers are regularly involved in ride-along sessions aimed at observing the selling skills of the sales representatives. They therefore required training about the safety of the ride-along and the application of the checklists for driving skills. The checklists must thence be submitted to drivers and the department of PPD safety to facilitate tracking, summarizing and handing over to the sales management. The results of the safety ride-along trainings were supposed to feature prominently in performance reviews reports every year.

The high-risk drivers were also incorporated in the training program that was associated with substantial number of collisions. Identification of such drivers and their engagement in programs of training and intervention was seen as a means of reducing the rate of fleet crash.

Recommendations and conclusion

The training programs were attributed to significant reduction in fleet crashes but supplementing the training with other channels in the organization was recommended. These include the use of emails, newsletters and the intranet for distribution of educational and practical reminders of safety issues to all drivers. This expanded program resulted to about fifty percent reduction in costs payable to third party liabilities.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2001). Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries of 2000.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (2001). Traffic Safety Facts Report