The 7-Piece Puzzle of Fleet Safety

Construction Firms Can Assemble a Picture with Fewer Accidents

Both the number and severity of automobile accidents have increased.

With lower gas prices, an expanding population, and an uptick in economic activity (including highway and building construction), more cars and trucks are on the road. And newer safety features built into cars — such as bumpers with sensors — are making auto repairs more expensive.

Companies in the construction, manufacturing and delivery business are bearing the burden of costs, damages and disruption from accidents. Industries that operate fleets of vehicles are paying a price for higher insurance claims.

What’s a business owner to do — just accept that accidents are inevitable?

Kevin Clary, Vice President Loss Control at Amerisure Insurance answers with a resounding “No!”

For businesses that require employees to drive vehicles managed by the business, fleet safety efforts can improve their drivers’ performance.

Fleet safety encompasses planning, organizing, leading, controlling and monitoring a program to prevent or reduce accidents, claims and damages.

Amerisure has been focused on fleet safety mid-sized firms for years, based on substantial experience with transportation risks in construction and other industries.

Amerisure uses seven factors to evaluate fleet safety.

Business owners can influence these factors to boost the safety of their own commercial vehicle fleet. Business owners can assemble a fleet safety picture with fewer claims using these seven puzzle pieces, explained Clary:

1. 1. Selection of drivers. Deciding who will drive and maintaining a list of “vetted” drivers is “first and foremost,” he said.Drivers not on approved lists have caused serious accidents and expensive claims when driving commercial vehicles such as pickup trucks. That occasional driver who isn’t vetted can turn out to have a poor driving history. “You don’t just give out a vehicle to someone. You stick to the approved drivers,” Clary added.

1. 1. Management commitment to fleet safety. Amerisure evaluates how committed the company is to fleet safety by asking: Is there a written fleet safety program? Is it supported by management?

1. 1. Screening and selection of drivers. While looking at applicants’ and employees’ motor vehicle records and license history is a necessary step, there is another tool proven to assess a person’s riskiness as a driver: behavioral assessment of driver candidates.Amerisure recommends — and provides free of charge to policyholders — a behavioral assessment tool to use in the driver hiring process. “It gives a risk factor rating on an individual,” explained Clary, “so you can see if they have a tendency to engage in more-risky behaviors.”

1. 1. Training of drivers. It’s imperative that selected drivers be trained for the vehicles they’ll actually drive, pointed out Clary, who has experience companywide in loss control as well as in the field in training business owners and drivers in fleet safety. Amerisure’s loss control professionals can tailor training sessions for policyholders and their drivers to the fleet safety issues that are of specific concern on a case-by-case basis.A recent resurgence in construction, especially in states like Texas and Florida, means that relatively inexperienced workers may be driving vehicles on the job. About four of every five accidents involve employees who’ve been with the company two years or less, says Clary. Training can make a difference in making these workers safer drivers.

1. 1. Managing drivers on an ongoing basis. It’s essential to check motor vehicle records annually and hold employees accountable with a written disciplinary program. If an employee violates fleet safety program policies related to driving, discipline might progress from a verbal warning for a first violation, to a written warning for a second violation, to termination.

1. 1. Managing accidents. The company must actively get involved after an accident, Clary noted, to conduct a “thorough accident Investigation and identify corrective actions” after determining the root cause of the accident.Driver error is almost always at that root. The U.S. government’s National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey concluded that:
      

      “The critical reason, which is the last event in the crash causal chain, was assigned to the driver” in 94% of 5,470 crashes of light vehicles studied from 2005 to 2007.

      By comparison, about 2% of the crashes were due to a vehicle component’s failure or degradation. Another 2% were attributed to the environment (slick roads and weather), revealed this comprehensive study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

      “Usually in some way a driver made an error: speeding, aggressive driving, distracted driving, whatever it may be,” commented Clary.

1. Plan for vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance. Better-performing firms in fleet safety have regular schedules for taking care of vehicles.

What can business owners do next to improve fleet safety? Try taking a fresh look at driver training.

Training drivers — or simply reminding them of some of the key driving behaviors that can heighten safety and prevent accidents — can make a big difference in fleet safety performance.

Amerisure offers a series of training tips to share with commercial drivers. Access these commercial driver training resources on Amerisure’s new Fleet Driver Safety Tips website section.