Workplace Safety

Approximately 15 people die each day from injuries or illnesses acquired at work. One of the leading contributors to this statistic is complacency. Safety is, unfortunately, one of the areas in which employees and leaders become too complacent. As they develop routines, their standards start to dwindle. Overseers might begin accepting a lower quality of work. To make matters worse, employees might continue finding shortcuts in their work. When shortcuts become common, accidents happen. Sometimes accidents occur and are not reported at all. Events that almost end in an accident also often go undocumented. Even if they’re lucky enough to avoid disaster, workers with complacent attitudes have the potential to drive the company they work for into the ground. The worst part about this snowballing scenario is that employers begin blaming employees, and employees always blame the employers. There are often blame battles between supervisors and employees also. Fortunately, there are several steps supervisors or overseers can take to minimize the dangers of workplace complacency.

1. Get to know the employees individually. In a society that is individualistic, it’s important to treat people with the respect they have been taught to expect. Supervisors in the workplace must make a point to become familiar with each employee. Ask each person about their safety concerns and discuss company policies. Make sure they understand the company’s policies. When an employee states a safety concern, always do something about it. Employees must never feel that their safety concerns are being ignored.
2. Make safety a main focus in management planning. During organizational and regular meetings, make safety issues a priority. Be sure to speak about safety concerns collected from employees’ suggestions to other corporate leaders. By talking about them during every meeting, it’s more likely that improvements and changes will happen quickly. While presenting the safety concerns, be sure to illustrate how the negative effects of ignoring the issues will hurt the company.
3. Review and analyze all safety reports regularly. Although it’s most important to review injury reports stemming from safety issues, it’s also important to review near misses. Make sure employees know that it’s mandatory to record incidents that were almost accidents. After reading the reports, meet with the employees involved in each incident. Ask injured employees how they are doing and monitor their progress. Employees who had near misses must be interviewed to see if they have made any required changes to prevent future incidents. If the changes are beyond their control to make, be sure to take the necessary steps to implement them.
4. Involve all employees in the safety process. Reward every employee’s effort toward safety involvement. Keep in mind that employees could ignore safety rules instead. To help encourage them to do more, implement a safety committee. Membership for the committee must be voluntary. However, many employees who want to be promoted are happy to join committees. For large workplaces, designate a committee for each department. Encourage the committee members to work together to enforce safety rules. Hold regular meetings at work, and allow safety committee members to voice their concerns. One of the best ways to prevent complacency about safety issues is to hold contests. For example, offer a monetary bonus for employees who stay incident-free for a specific time period. Money is always a valuable incentive to avoid complacency and negligence.
5. Implement an efficient and anonymous reporting system. Employees who are considered tattletales shouldn’t be ignored. If they have safety concerns or see another employee breaking safety rules, it’s imperative to listen to them. Many employees are afraid to talk about others because they want to avoid conflict. Respect their desire to enjoy a comfortable workplace by implementing an anonymous tip system. Never tell an employee who has been reported that a specific fellow employee gave the tip. This only creates animosity. By keeping information anonymous, employees are more likely to follow safety rules. Employees know that anyone may report their actions without fear of being named individually, so they’ll be more careful. In addition to providing anonymity, this system is also a great way to gain the trust of employees.

In order to avoid complacency and negligence, safety must become a culture in the workplace. Employees and supervisors need to see that it’s a part of everything they do. They must also see the dangers and effects of becoming complacent. For example, arrange a seminar each month with a safety speaker who has been disfigured or disabled from a workplace accident. Videos, pictures and real-life exposure to disfigured workers is a good way for employees and supervisors to see the realistic safety risks of workplace complacency. Once a regular plan becomes an official culture that is rigorously enforced, it’s easy for everyone to enjoy a safe workplace.

An accident or breakdown of a company vehicle can affect your company’s productivity negatively. Furthermore, it can hurt the reputation of your company if the breakdown results in late shipments or deliveries and no-shows for appointments. The good news is that there is a simple way to reduce the number of breakdowns and accidents that your vehicle fleet sustains: continuous preventative maintenance.

Preventative maintenance is done in addition to regularly scheduled oil changes and tune ups. It occurs when an employee spots something that could become a problem and reports it to the maintenance department before it disables the vehicle.

No one knows the company vehicles as well as the drivers, and they have a responsibility to make sure that preventative maintenance occurs. Below are some steps you can follow to properly maintain company vehicles.

The Daily Pre-Drive Checklist. Before you begin your work each day, you should go through a checklist of inspection points for the company vehicle you will be driving. The checklist should encourage you to inspect the following:

• The functionality of the service, parking, emergency, and trailer brake systems.
• Integrity of the wheels, tires, and rims.
• The condition of the horn, reverse alarm, windshield wipers, headlights, brake lights, reverse lights, steering wheel and turn signals.
• Visibility and effectiveness of the windshield, side windows, rearview and side view mirrors, side markers, dashboard instruments, and reflectors.
• Examine the cleanness of the exhaust system and the ability of the vehicle to idle without stalling.
• The presence of a safety kit including flares, reflectors, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, tools to assist with minor repairs while on the road, any safety items needed by your industry. You should also check the cleanliness and effectiveness of each item in the kit.

Daily Incident Reports When Necessary. Despite the daily checklist, some problems do not surface until you begin driving the vehicle. If you notice any problems while you drive, you should report them to the maintenance department immediately so that the vehicle can be repaired before the problem puts another employee in danger or pulls the vehicle off the line. Be certain to document the signs of the problem, when it occurred, as well as anything that may have been unusual about the driving conditions that day.

If you have a minor accident as you are driving, you should report it immediately… Even if the accident results in no visible damage to the vehicle and no one is hurt, an incident report must be completed and the maintenance department should be informed.

Following these guidelines will help your company stay productive and profitable, while keeping employees safe and producing satisfied customers.

Sight is one of your most precious senses, especially when it comes to your ability to earn a living. Yet, eye injuries occur all too often in the workplace.

A worker might be using a high speed tool that scatters tiny flying particles, and in the blink of an eye, the particles are in the workers’ eye. If the worker notices what happens, these particles can be removed by an ophthalmologist or emergency room doctor. Although the result can still be scarring or cause eye damage, there’s an even greater risk of permanent eye damage if the worker doesn’t notice the lodged particle.

It might sound obvious, but the first step to protecting your eyes is to make sure that you have routine yearly eye exams. An uncorrected or under corrected vision problem can cause you to have an accident that affects you and/or others. Many workers might feel self-conscious in glasses, but is vanity really worth sacrificing your eyesight?

If you are a candidate, your ophthalmologist might be able to prescribe contact lenses. Either way, the corrective device should be worn as the doctor prescribes it.

In any job location where there might be a hazard to the eye, the worker should utilize personal protective eyewear that is designed for the specific task or hazard involved. This isn’t an optional way to protect your eyes; OSHA actually requires everyone on a work site to wear front and side protecting safety glasses when there is a hazard from any flying objects. The reason that OSHA requires everyone on site to wear safety glasses is because other workers might be working with a hazard, even if you aren’t.

Protective Eyewear. Your eyewear should fit properly and comfortably to best protect your eyes. They should be snug to maintain a proper position, but not so snug that they interfere with your natural movements. Many protective eyewear devices have adjustable features that can be fitted directly to the unique elements of your face. When fitted properly, dust and chemical splash protecting eyewear will form a protecting seal. Leaving the eyewear loosely hanging on the face will not provide adequate protection. Face shields and welding helmets must also be fitted properly, as they will do little good if they fall off while working.

Workers that must wear corrective glasses should ask for their own prescription safety eyewear. It is possible to wear certain types of personal protective eyewear over your corrective glasses, but it is often bulky, heavy and uncomfortable.

In the Event of an Eye Accident. If an eye injury does occur, the response time can often prevent serious and permanent injury. In order to respond quickly, workers should do the following before an incident occurs:

• Know safety protocols and first-aid response.
• Know the location of eyewash stations, operation, and how to quickly get to one.
• Report any problems with the eyewash station, personal protective equipment, or unaccounted hazards to the site supervisor.

Accidents are inevitably going to occur. However, by supporting and complying with all elements of the eye protection program, you can greatly reduce the risk of injury and lessen the potential for permanent eye damage.

Did you know that the average person takes about 18,000 steps every day? Most of us don’t stop to realize how just one misstep can cause a person to lose his or her balance, which can lead to a fall that might cause injury or possibly even death. In fact, each year, only car crashes cause more accidental deaths than falls. Annually in the U.S., approximately 15,000 people lose their lives as a result of a fall. To save lives and avoid injuries, prevention of falls is critical.

Falls can be the result of either slips or trips. A slip happens when there is too little traction between the surface and your shoes. Typical hazards that cause slips include:

• Occasional spills
• Weather hazards
• Loose, unanchored rugs or mats
• Flooring or other walking surfaces that do not have same degree of traction in all areas

A trip happens when your foot collides with an object, causing you to lose your balance and fall. Common causes of tripping are:

• Obstructed view
• Insufficient lighting
• Clutter
• Wrinkled or buckling carpet
• Uncovered cables or wires
• Bottom drawers not being closed
• Uneven walking surfaces

How to Prevent Slips and Trips

Good housekeeping is the single most important way to prevent slips and trips. This includes:

• Reporting any spill to those responsible for cleaning it up
• Cleaning all spills as soon as possible
• Marking spills and wet areas with hazard warning signs to route traffic around them
• Sweeping debris from floors
• Removing obstacles from aisles and walkways, and keeping them free of clutter
• Securing mats, rugs and carpets that do not lay flat
• Always closing file cabinet or storage drawers
• Covering cables that cross walkways
• Keeping working areas and walkways well lit
• Replacing burned out light bulbs and faulty switches

Flooring. In some instances, it is recommended that flooring be changed to make slips less likely. Recoating or replacing floors, installing mats, using pressure-sensitive abrasive strips or coating, and metal or synthetic decking are ways that the slipperiness of floors can be reduced.

Footwear. In workplaces where floors may be oily or wet or where workers spend considerable time outdoors, prevention falls should include proper footwear for the conditions.

Training. Cautious behavior in the presence of slip and fall hazards can prevent numerous accidents. You can reduce the risk of slipping on wet flooring by:

• Taking your time and paying attention to where you are going
• Adjusting your stride to a pace that is suitable for the walking surface
• Walking with the feet pointed slightly outward
• Making wide turns at corners

You can reduce the risk of tripping by:

• Always using installed light sources that provide sufficient light for your tasks or
• Using a flashlight if you enter a dark room where there is no light
• Ensuring that things you are carrying or pushing do not prevent you from seeing any obstructions, spills, etc.

Many of the measures suggested above may seem like common sense. But people often get distracted and ignore the importance safety guidelines. That’s why it’s important to have ongoing training to remind workers of the importance of abiding by proper safety codes, and avoiding slips and falls at all costs.

Success is the process of achieving desired goals. Everyone wants to be successful in life. However, some people need to know where to start. Since the world is in a great shortage of jobs, having the keys to success will determine who finds employment and who doesn’t. Employers are able to be more selective about who they hire in today’s world. Teamwork, communication and listening are three skills that are essential to have. One overlooked aspect of success in the workplace is safety.

Safety is essential to maintain in the workplace at all times. This applies to safety for other workers and customers. Since this society is so litigious, there are no safety precautions that are too excessive. For example, installing a no-slip floor in a business that has never had any lawsuits isn’t an outrageous idea. This will keep both employees and customers safe from falls. It’s much better to prevent accidents before they happen. Promoting employee safety in the workplace requires regular education and a team effort. Employers should always provide adequate training about safety protocol in the workplace.

Every type of job has basic safety standards. It’s important to use common sense to determine what to do in various situations. Workers who are employed in dangerous jobs, such as mines or factories, must be especially vigilant about safety. Most factories and mine companies provide extensive safety training. Consider these 10 important aspects related to maintaining a safe work environment:

1. Cooperate with fellow workers. This is the key idea of teamwork. When everyone cooperates, it’s easier to generate quality results. It’s also easier to maintain a safe environment in a workplace that is free of quarreling and distracted workers.
2. Keep a positive attitude. When workers feel discouraged, the quality of their work is usually inadequate. It’s also harder for such workers to complete their regular duties, which may create an unsafe situation.
3. Admit mistakes without blaming others. Blame creates rifts that affect teamwork negatively. This harmful action results in distracted workers, which pose a safety threat to the company they work for.
4. Understand company goals before developing personal ones. Keep in mind that the company’s goals are always considered first. Personal goals should never conflict with them. Set a priority level for every goal or action. Keep the safety of others in mind at all times.
5. Keep the workplace tidy. Bosses never complain that a workplace is too neat. However, a disorganized workplace can hamper productivity and create potential safety hazards.
6. Be helpful to all coworkers. If a coworker asks for help, be sure to oblige. They’re much more likely to help those who provide mutual support. Helping a confused coworker may also save them from making an unsafe mistake.
7. Avoid displays of jealousy. This natural emotion, if experienced, should be waved away. As mentioned before, negative emotions of any kind create unsafe distractions.
8. Never let failures cause doubt. Everyone experiences a failed goal at some point. It’s important to have a realistic sense of confidence to maintain job safety.
9. Appreciate all coworkers for the unique individuals they are. Never show hostility to others because they don’t share similar views or characteristics. Getting along with others is a key concept of promoting safety.
10. Try to be disciplined consistently. Always follow company safety protocols. It’s easy for people to become too comfortable in their jobs, become lax with protocols and cause an accident. To avoid this, develop a regular routine of following proper protocols.

Some form of shift work, whether it be during the day or night, is performed by about 20% of the American workforce. Most sleep experts have concluded that working at night isn’t biologically natural for the human body. The human body has evolved to sleep during the night and participate in activity during the day. The biological processes in human cells naturally occur in a circadian rhythm. It wasn’t until the light bulb allowed us to participate in daytime activities at night that all this changed. But, this isn’t necessarily a positive change.

For some, it’s easy to change their sleep-wake schedule. Meanwhile, others find it very difficult to sleep during the day and will remain tired when they’re working at night. This is a circadian rhythm disorder called shift work disorder.

Although there is not yet conclusive data showing how many shift workers suffer from shift work disorder, research is showing that there are consequences of shift work – traffic accidents, workplace accidents, gastrointestinal illness, heart disease, and psychiatric disorders. Cancer, for example, is thought to be linked to shift work due to melatonin suppression. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that is a potent antioxidant. It’s secreted in the highest amounts during nighttime sleep. So, when a person is working at night under bright lights, their body could be secreting less melatonin

Another well researched consequence of shift work is heart disease. Some studies have shown that those sleeping during the day versus at night have a tendency toward high blood pressure during sleeping hours.

Cortical rhythm, which has to do with stress reaction, and leptin levels, which helps to make a person feel full, are also altered by daytime sleeping. Some research shows that a person can increase their glucose and insulin levels and develop pre-diabetes within just a few days of sleeping during the day and working during the night. In 2007, shift work was even classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a WHO subcommittee) as a probable cancer carcinogen.

Some wonder if the health affects are applicable to them if they’re a night owl or have a natural inclination to stay up late. This is being studied, but there simply isn’t a clear answer yet. In the meantime, there are some tips that anyone doing shift work can use to help minimize fatigue and insomnia.

• Use the light to your advantage while you’re working, as light sends a signal to your brain that it’s time for the body to be awake and alert. On your drive home from work, use sunglasses or glasses that filter blue wavelength and a brimmed hat to keep out sunlight and start signaling to your body that it’s time for sleep.
• Make your daytime sleep environment sleep friendly with blackout shades, turning the ringer off the phone, and disconnecting the doorbell. Family should understand that even though it’s daytime, this is your bedtime.
• It may also be helpful if you don’t alter your work sleep-wake schedule too much on your days off. Of course, you still want to allow yourself daylight hours to socialize and attend to business affairs.
• If the sleep environment and behavior changes don’t work, then you might consider melatonin. Some studies show that it’s useful for those unsuccessfully trying to sleep during the daytime. Be careful not to take the melatonin too far in advance of when you plan to sleep, as it will generally only take thirty minutes to start working.
• Most will find help through environment and behavior changes. For those that aren’t helped by the above four tips, armodafinil / Nuvigil, a medication commonly used by those suffering from narcolepsy, has now also been approved by the FDA for shift work disorder.

Given that back pain is one of the most common reasons that U.S. employees give for missing work, it should be a major concern for employers. The American Chiropractic Association reports some 31 million Americans experience low-back pain at one point or another during a year. Back pain, although common, isn’t necessarily always serious in nature. In fact, most cases aren’t a symptom of an infection, cancer, inflammatory arthritis, or some other serious condition. Instead, most cases of back pain are mechanical in nature. By training employees to follow the three Ps, employers can help employees avoid mechanical back pain and any resulting work absences and costly doctor visits:

1. Prevention. Believe it or not, the shoes an employee wears not only impacts the health of their feet, but also their legs, hips, and back. Shoes have a role in an employee’s ability to maintain a healthy posture during walking, standing, and sitting activities. Additionally, shoe choice also plays a large role in slips and falls, which are frequent causes of workplace back injuries. Here are a few tips to share with employees:

Never wear unsupported or unstable shoes. There’s more surface area on shoes with a wedged bottom, which can help support the foot and make it safer and easier to walk briskly. Pay attention to the type of surface being walked on. Linoleum, various types of tile, marble, hardwood, and such offer little traction. Wear shoes with non-slip soles or that aren’t smooth on the bottom. Never wear shoes that are inappropriate for a job, such as open-toe shoes when climbing ladders or walking over grates.

2. Posture. The muscles in the back can become fatigued and injured when an employee stands with a swayed back or slouches. This posture exaggerates the natural curvature of the back, which is an unnatural and stressful position. The following techniques can help employees improve their posture:

Hold reading materials at eye-level, not chest-level. Periodically rest one foot on a small stool when long periods of standing are required. Objects being worked with should be at a comfortable, ergonomic position. An occupant of a chair should position it so that their feet are flat on the floor. Keep back pockets empty of wallets, keys, and cell phones when sitting so that the back will be properly aligned. Chairs without lumbar support can be modified to support the lower back with a small pillow or rolled towel.

Cluttered, disorganized work areas can frequently cause back pain. Initiate a movement to help employees reorganize their work areas to prevent repetitive, useless, and/or unduly stressful movements. Equipment should be organized so that it’s easily accessible for users and doesn’t make them twist and stretch to reach it. Here are some ideas:

• Encourage employees to use speakerphone, a shoulder rest extension, or a headset when they’re frequently on the phone. These tools can help prevent employees from becoming stationary too long and/or cradling the phone between their ear and shoulder, which are two common culprits of both neck and back pain.
• Ensure all employees doing frequent, prolonged computer work have their computers positioned so that the screen can be read without tilting the head up or down and discs can be inserted without undue strain.
• Have an accessible space available for employees to safely store their bags, briefcases, purses, and so forth so that they aren’t frequently carrying these items around with them.
• Display clear “how to” postings on proper body mechanics for lifting objects. Even office workers can sometimes be lifting heavy boxes of supplies and such that could injure their back if not lifted properly.

If you aren’t starting each shift with a safety huddle, you might want to start. Safety huddles are an excellent way for employers to demonstrate their company’s commitment to safety and build a foundation for employee teamwork. A safety huddle is essentially a short safety meeting that involves workers examining a specific hazard or safety topic. Although there isn’t any set way to conduct a safety huddle, the following points should be included for the most effective safety huddle:

• The topic, place, and time of the huddle should be clearly announced.
• The meeting should begin promptly on schedule.
• The details on why the huddle is being held should be explained.
• The topic shouldn’t get sidetracked with issues not relative to the huddle topic. If an important off-subject topic is brought up by a worker, then it should have a separate huddle meeting at a later time. However, do make sure that the topic actually gets addressed later.
• Time should be allotted for discussion and questions. Contact your safety representative if the answer to a question is unknown. Never make a guess.
• The time shouldn’t be spent solely focusing on problem areas and things being done wrong, as workers often have a desire for approval. In other words, be sure to address what is being done right, too.
• Use examples of real accidents, especially those that hit close to home, as an attention grabber and to back up safety points and regulations.

Who Leads A Safety Huddle? In most cases, a supervisor will take charge of the huddle. After all, the supervisor is responsible for understanding the various projects, the relative hazards, and the employees working on the projects. However, another responsible worker that would take the safety huddle seriously, and isn’t hesitant to speak in front of his/her coworkers could be capable of conducting safety huddles as well.

What Should A Safety Huddle Discuss? A safety huddle should take place at the beginning of each shift and discuss issues such as:

• Known and potential hazards of new projects.
• Any general problem associated with off or on-job safety.
• Any time an accident or close call occurs; be sure to address what caused it and corrective actions.
• Known or potential job hazards with an overview of the applicable safety rules that help prevent hazards from becoming accidents.

How Long Should A Safety Huddle Last? Given a well-chosen topic, standing workers, and a group that’s able to stay focused and on track, it should only last ten minutes or less. Of course, some topics will be more important or complicated and need longer than ten minutes to be properly addressed. In this case, you might hold the safety huddle in an area that is away from distractions and allows workers to sit down, or break the topic into a series of huddles.

What Size Should A Safety Huddle Be? Try to limit the huddle to ten workers, as larger huddles often make it hard for all the workers to get a chance to actively participate in such a limited amount of time.

Whether being done to accommodate an installation or build a foundation, excavations are common occurrences around a construction site. Just because excavations are so commonplace that they seem like just another task being accomplished by competent employees doesn’t mean that serious dangers aren’t present. Among excavation sites, cave-ins are the primary cause of death and injury. Soil can weigh upwards of 3,000 pounds per cubic yard, and can cause buried workers to suffer broken bones, concussions, internal injuries, or even suffocate within minutes. Of course, a cave-in isn’t the only danger associated with excavation work. Other hazards include: toxic fumes, buried power lines, a lack of oxygen, and explosive gases.

The best way an employer can avoid exposing their employees to the risks of excavation work is by developing a safety plan tailored to the specific site before starting any work. Start by considering the following seven areas as the site to be excavated is assessed.

1. Soil Composition. OSHA defines the different types of soil composition and gives the unconfined compressive strength for each type. Unconfined compressive strength, which simply means how much compression the soil can take before it fails, is determined by either field or laboratory testing. The four types of soil include:
   • Stable rock – natural solid mineral matter that remains intact as it’s exposed to excavation. An example would be sandstone.
   • Type A soil – cohesive soils with an unconfined compressive strength of at least 1.5 tons per square foot. An example would be clay.
   • Type B soil – cohesive soils with an unconfined compressive strength of 1.5 to 0.5 tons per square foot. An example would be angular gravel.
   • Type C soil – cohesive soils with an unconfined compressive strength of 0.5 or fewer tons per square foot. An example would be sand.
2. Surface Debris. All potentially hazardous objects should be identified and removed.
3. Traffic. The amount of vehicle traffic on and near an excavation site should be assessed. The vibrations caused by vehicles moving across a nearby frequently traveled roadway could create a cave-in.
4. Underground Utility Lines. All telephone, electric, sewer, fuel, and water lines should be located. Determine what utility agencies need to be contacted for a shutoff until the work is finished.
5. Water Accumulation. It should be determined if there’s a potential for a high water table, rains, or nearby bodies of water to cause water to accumulate on the excavation site. A solution to eliminate or alleviate the risk should be identified.
6. Stability Of Neighboring Structures. It’s important to know if any structures neighboring the excavation site, such as buildings and walls, could become unstable during the excavation. Such structures will need to be adequately supported prior to the excavation.
7. Atmosphere Hazards And Low Oxygen levels. Determine if there’s a potential for exposure to either of these. If so, it should be determined how they will be controlled and what rescue equipment will need to be available to workers.

Hazard identification is a responsibility shared by all on-site employees. However, OSHA requires excavation sites be examined by a competent person. This examiner must be trained in areas like protection methods, excavation requirements, and soil analysis since they will be directly responsible for classifying soil, atmospheric testing, and determining how best to protect employees from cave-ins. The examiner must also inspect the protective system and excavation site for damage, instability, and hazards at least once per day.

Some of the statistics on vehicle crashes are startling. For example, a vehicle crash occurs every five seconds, someone is injured in a vehicle crash every 10 seconds, and someone dies in a car crash every 12 minutes. Since most of these crashes occur on workdays or while a person is commuting to or from work, employers are often impacted by these crashes and also bear a cost as the employee involved in the accident misses work.

In fact, the above vehicle crash statistics are directly from the Guidelines for Employers to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes booklet that was produced by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, OSHA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The booklet provides employers with a simple driver safety program that can be implemented in the workplace. The program is only 10 steps and is applicable to businesses of all sizes, with or without a fleet of company vehicles, and regardless of whether personal or company vehicles are driven by employees throughout the work day.

The 10 steps of the driver safety program:

1. Involve all levels of staff in the initial planning phase of the driver safety program. You need employees to be involved and a commitment from your senior management. Remember, employees that see management disregarding or not abiding by the new program aren’t very likely to value or abide by it either.
2. Compose a written policy and procedure with explicit and enforceable rules regarding driver safety. These rules should be centrally posted and periodically distributed to all your employees. Department managers can further discuss these rules during department and in-service meetings.
3. You should also have all employees, regardless of whether they are driving their own or a company vehicle, sign a safety contract. By signing the document, the employee is acknowledging that they’ve read and understood your policy and is agreeing to follow it.
4. Keep driving records on all employees. You can set up a time to periodically review the records for any drivers with driving violations. Make sure that your policy clearly specifies how many violations will result in an employee having their company-related driving privileges revoked.
5. Part of the safety program should be creating a process to report and investigate all crashes, even those that are minor. Your policy should make it mandatory for employees to report any vehicle accident they’re involved in. The process should also establish a method of investigation to determine how and why the crash happened and if it was preventable.
6. The selection, maintenance, and inspection of your company fleet should also have a specific set of guidelines. The guidelines might include considering the safety features offered by various models when selecting new fleet vehicles, routine maintenance being performed in accordance with the mileage interval recommended by the manufacturer, and a mechanic performing and documenting an annual inspection of all fleet vehicles.
7. You will need to consider what disciplinary actions will be taken in response to preventable accidents and traffic violations. Make sure that your policy clearly establishes the consequences for each type of infraction and for subsequent infractions within a set period of time.
8. Establish an incentive program to recognize and reward employees that have avoided accidents and traffic violations.
9. Reinforce what you’ve already established by continuing to provide your employees with refresher courses on driver safety.
10. Take steps to ensure that all employees are obeying traffic laws and highway safety regulations. Employees that have been driving for an extended period of time often take shortcuts. Enforce consequences so that employees know this isn’t acceptable behavior.

Aside from the above 10-step program, the booklet further provides employers with examples of real life successful safety programs; a worksheet to calculate a businesses’ losses from crashes; information on a multitude of traffic safety issues that could possibly need addressing, such as aggressive, distracted, drowsy, and impaired driving; and a resource listing.