If your employees were to get into an accident while driving a company vehicle, you may be liable for any resulting damages. You may also be required to pay workers compensation benefits to your employees as well. Therefore, it is in your best interest to make sure that your people stay safe on the road at all times. What are some ways to reduce the odds that one of your workers is involved in a car crash?
Provide Safety Training Classes
As an employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that employees know how to stay safe whenever they are on the clock. Defensive driving courses can teach drivers how to account for poor road conditions or how to adjust their driving habits when on the road at night. You should also teach anyone who drives as part of his or her job description what to do if he or she is tired or encounters another driver who may be tired or impaired.
Make Sure They Can Handle a Commercial Vehicle
Those who are driving a big rig or any other type of commercial vehicle should be trained and certified to operate it. In addition to the risks that any driver faces while on the road, a commercial driver has to know how to make tight turns in a large vehicle or how to change lanes or slow down without tipping over or accidentally colliding with a passenger car or truck.
Provide Them With a GPS
A driver who is lost is a driver who may not be focused on the road. Instead, he or she may be fumbling with a map while driving or looking at street signs as opposed to watching for pedestrians or noticing that the light at the intersection just turned red. With a GPS, all an employee has to do is enter an address before leaving the parking lot and listening for turn-by-turn directions.
Eliminate Distractions That Phones May Provide
It is easier than a driver may think to become distracted while behind the wheel. The simple task of answering a phone or replying to a text message while a car is moving could result in a collision with a car or another pedestrian. For every second that an individual glances away from the road, his or her vehicle can travel up to 100 yards, which is the length of a football field. Employers may want to consider adding technology to work vehicles that jams cell phone signals while a car is moving or making it company policy that phones are not to be used while driving.
Drug and Alcohol Screening May Be Appropriate
Employers who are worried about liability may want to screen their drivers for drugs or alcohol before and after a delivery. The use of any controlled substance while operating a motor vehicle is against the law even in the event a driver was taking a prescribed medication. Drivers who have a commercial license may not operate their vehicles if they have a blood alcohol content of .05 percent or higher. As an accident caused by an impaired employee may result in a fine or other punishment for the employer, drug and alcohol screenings can weed out those who may work while impaired.
Don’t Let Drivers Work While Tired
Every business owner knows that time is money. When a vehicle is not moving, it means that a delivery may be late or that a driver may not be available to take on a second delivery in the same shift. However, worker safety should trump any productivity concerns. This is especially true when a drowsy or exhausted driver could put the lives of everyone else on the road at risk as well. Drivers should never be encouraged to drive when tired or to alter their logbooks to make it look like they are complying with regulations even if they are not.
Your employees deserve to know that they work for an employer who values worker safety as much as he or she values making a profit. When workers feel safe doing their jobs, they are likely to work harder and be more productive knowing that they can worry more about helping customers and less about getting hurt.
