Company Road Accident Prevention

Company accident prevention performance to a large extent depends on their employee’s attitude towards safety. In previous articles we have advised that it is best if drivers are trained to understand safer driving behaviours, as well as how to plan their journeys more effectively. However, many companies that have provided this training to employees are finding that they need to run ‘refresher courses’. For employers that do not ‘buy in’ to refresher courses there can be financial implications; for example, if employees slip back into previous ‘bad’ driving habits this often results in the company having a higher accident rate which leads to their staff taking time off work to recover, potentially for long periods. This can significantly disrupt performance and cash flow. ‘Involvement and communication’ are the two key factors in reducing the possibility that employees will forget the good driving skills that they were taught in their initial training session, says Rick Wood, head of training at Fleet Solution and a RoSPA driver.

The first step to getting employees involved in their training is to ask for their assessment on how their training went, and any improvements that they can suggest. Invite their opinions on what the next steps should be. If a driver is made to think about their training after the event then they are likely to remember it far more easily, and hopefully continue to improve their driving performance.

An attitude where drivers are honest with their employers about issues can help. Industries such as Aviation and Medicine have started to operate ‘confidential reporting’ policies where employees can raise concerns or inform their employers about any ‘near misses’ without fear of repercussions. The whole point of a scheme such as this one is to save lives and improve efficiency. If a company is aware of the issues that drivers face, and the solutions that driver’s took to deal with it, then a policy of ‘best practise’ can be initiated. This will further involve drivers and is another way to keep vehicle safety training fresh in an employee’s mind. A driver’s increase in ‘good’ driving behaviours needs to be assessed using actual data, or ‘benchmarking’.

It is not advisable when talking to employees about issues with their driving behaviour to speak in terms of fault; this makes it seem as though you are apportioning blame and you are less likely to be able to identify issues and maintain improvement because the driver will be on the offensive. If terms such as preventable, or not preventable, are used this is a lot less confrontational. However, ‘95% of accidents involve the human factor’, according to Rick Wood. If an employee identifies themselves that an accident was avoidable then they are more likely to get involved and think of how they would be able to improve their behaviour in the future to prevent future incidents. Incentive schemes can also be used as part of encouraging driver driving behaviour improvements.

Employees need to be able to engage with the person who is conducting their training or refresher course so that the drivers who have not been involved in accidents do not feel patronised and the drivers that have do not feel ‘blamed’. It is all about the quality of the delivery. If delivered badly then drivers who have not had an accident may not listen because they feel it is not for them. However, driver behaviour training is just as much for them because the trainer is trying to make sure that the driver stays accident free. The overall aim of the training programme is to get employees to adopt a new approach when driving, and think more deeply about the consequences of any aversive actions they take.

A fleet tracking system is an ideal way for employees to monitor their employees driving behaviour and ensure that they are reverting to ‘bad’ driving habits potentially putting themselves and their road user at risk. Fleet tracking systems can provide key driving performance information such as the speed of travel and of any aggressive applications of the vehicles throttles or brakes.

What’s more a fleet tracking system need not increase a business’s overheads as when used to monitor driver time management, driving behaviour, working hours or route efficiency; companies are able to achieve savings that far outweigh the cost of the tracking system. Many businesses that have introduced a fleet tracking system to their business have noticed a marked improvement in their employee’s productivity.