Loss Control Best Practices
Chapter Five
The Fundamentals
of Fleet Safety
©
By Walt Malo
Produced by the
Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
P.O. Box 46182
Tampa, FL 33647
With a grant from the
Public Entity Risk Institute
11350 Random Hills Road, #210
Fairfax, VA 22030
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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DEDICATION
This presentation is dedicated
to the memory of
Dr. Terry Lee
who always regarded employee safety to be
the primary objective of any endeavor, entity or
enterprise. The countless lives he saved and injuries
he prevented through his diligent work
will go uncounted but not overlooked.
Taken from us far too soon,
Dr. Lee will be dearly missed.
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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Pre-test
1. What percentage of non-fatal occupational injuries is attributable to vehicle
collisions?
2. What percentage of on-the-job fatalities is attributable to vehicle
collisions?
3. Name three top priorities of a sound fleet safety program.
4. At what point are you required to have a CDL (commercial driver’s license)
with passenger endorsement on your license?
5. What tools are available for supervisors to conduct performance
evaluations?
6. What can be an invaluable tool to reduce your fleet operating costs?
7. What is the formula for determining vehicle collision rate?
8. Name the three causes of vehicle collisions.
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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FLEET SAFETY FUNDAMENTALS
Introduction
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, vehicles cause 15 percent of all
non-fatal occupational injuries involving days away from work. Vehicle fatalities
account for 24 percent of job-related deaths. The cost of motor-vehicle collisions,
both in human life and organizational costs, is staggering. The cost is reflected in
higher premiums for property, liability, and workers’ compensation insurance.
Vehicle collisions impact an organization’s work and the families of those who are
injured or killed.
The magnitude of the vehicle-related accidents, injuries, and deaths demands a
sound loss-control effort to minimize its impact. As a public employer, you need a
fleet safety program that addresses the operation of your fleet, the safety of your
employees, and the public you serve. Your fleet safety program should cover a
wide variety of management concerns. To highlight just a few:
–It should require compliance with safety rules and regulations; traffic laws are
written with everyone’s safety in mind, not to detain your deliveries.
–Your program should include a section on drug abuse and mandatory drug
testing after collisions. Drug testing should be mandatory before employment and
done periodically at random to identify drivers at risk.
–And while your program must make every attempt to reduce potential loss, it
must also give safety precedence over schedules and routes. For example, if
another route is safer because of weather or construction, drivers should be able
to choose that alternative. If drivers are detained because of circumstances
beyond their control, safety – not time – needs to be the prevailing motivation.
With these and other concerns in mind let’s identify the basics of a fleet safety
program. By using the following guidelines, you can develop a program that will
serve your organization’s fleet management needs. With these general
guidelines, you can develop the policies and procedures that are tailored to your
operations and overcome the resistance you may face in implementing them .
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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RESISTANCE
Bear in mind that every new program is met with a certain degree of resistance.
Even when change comes from the top, it will be resisted on some level.
Knowing that is important to the program’s success. You need to sell your
program to the person at the very top before anyone else. How you sell it is
through the avenue all administrators know and understand: dollars saved. You
absolutely must use quantitative evidence to demonstrate that your fleet safety
program will save money over time.
Your best resource for quantitative evidence is the insurance industry, starting
with your current carrier/provider. If you are a member of a self-insurance trust,
fund or group, it can provide you with as much data as you need. If it can’t, it’s
time to find another provider or fund. Contact people in the marketing department
and explain what you’re trying to accomplish. They have access to not only your
loss runs but also everyone else’s in the fund/group. They can do an impressive
comparison of your entity with to those with valid fleet safety programs in place.
Just make sure they use true comparisons with entities of similar size and
operation.
Administrators, mayors, city/county managers, all understand one thing above all
else: MONEY! If you remember nothing else, remember this: If you can put
money back into the coffers through your proposed program, you are more
assured of the backing you need from the top. I never said guaranteed, but you
have a better chance if you have the numbers.
If you work for government, you need to understand tradition. No one likes
change – especially government workers and administrators. Innovation means
change, and change mean expenditures. Safety will always be considered an
expense not an investment unless you can show that you will save or recover
more than you will spend. There lies the challenge.
DRIVER SELECTION
A successful program begins with a written plan that provides hiring criteria and
requirements. It should address such items as minimum driver experience,
acceptable and required licensing, motor vehicle records checks, physical
capacity standards, and drug testing. If you fall under Department of
Transportation or Interstate Commerce Commission motor carrier safety
regulations or if you hold the drug-free workplace classification, drug testing is
mandatory. Even without these mandates, you should have an interest in the
sobriety of your drivers.
You should use a complete and accurate application form designed to meet
minimum industry standards, as well as your particular needs, for commercial
drivers. It should ask for previous employment history, driving experience,
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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necessary personal data, and medical history without breaching the tenants of
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Americans with
Disabilities Act.
Every state has minimum requirements to obtain a driver's license. If you operate
a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 26,001 pounds, or you
carry more than 16 passengers, or you carry hazardous materials in quantities
requiring placarding, you need a commercial driver’s license. If you operate
vehicles involved in interstate transportation with a GVWR of more than 10,001
pounds, or carry more than 16 passengers, or carry hazardous materials in
quantities requiring placarding, you fall under the requirements of the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, and you need a commercial driver's license.
The application should ask for professional and personal references. Contact and
verify those references. You may run across the rare but stubborn employer who
responds to such inquiries with "no comment." Your first and natural reaction to
such a response might be that the previous employer had nothing good to say so
said nothing. This is not necessarily true. Ask if you can review the candidate’s
personnel file if you're really interested. You could otherwise miss out on hiring a
good worker. You won't know until you ask.
Checking motor vehicle records can help you decide who will be entrusted with
your expensive vehicles. They are generally easy to obtain through your
insurance agent or carrier or you may even be able to get them directly from the
state by acquiring a "vendor number" from the state. Insurance companies and
agents generally charge about $5, and states charge anywhere from $5 to $15,
depending on the number of reports – the more reports, the cheaper the cost.
As an important part of your background check, you should check with the
National Driver Register (NDR). In 1982, the federal government passed the
National Driver Register Act because some states failed to maintain accurate
records in accordance with old register requirements. The act imposed penalties,
such as withholding federal highway funds, for failure to comply. The new act
requires participating states to transmit to the NDR all reports regarding
individuals convicted of certain serious violations or who have lost or been denied
driving privileges "for cause." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) has compiled a list of violations that must be reported to the NDR. The
NHTSA developed rules for the new NDR to identify problem drivers and point to
the state of record. Called the Problem Driver Pointer System, it requires
automated electronic communications.
Prospective drivers should be road tested in the types of vehicle type they will be
required to operate to determine familiarity with equipment, ability to operate
under various conditions that will be encountered, driving attitude, and
awareness of motor vehicle laws. With the CDL legislation now in place since
1990, all the new rules should be well ingrained in truly experienced drivers.
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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DRIVER TRAINING
After new drivers are hired, they must receive some sort of orientation training.
All new drivers should be placed on an initial probationary period to allow proper
observation and to permit sufficient time for all background reports to return.
Assuming that licensed drivers will perform in accordance with your standards
through osmosis guarantees catastrophe. Training should focus on defined
needs and should accomplish stated, essential objectives. Provided you have
conducted road tests before hiring, you have the beginning criteria for training in
the observation notes of those road tests.
Orientation training normally covers your organization’s policies and procedures,
state, county and local laws and ordinances, defensive driving standards,
customer or public relations, and safety concepts. It also should include specific
characteristics of the cargo you haul, the type of vehicle your organization uses,
and what is expected of employees.
Some topics require detailed discussions: vehicle operation, vehicle condition,
company forms, emergency procedures, safety equipment, telephone numbers,
incident report form, and conduct at incident scene.
Refresher training should occur at least every six months and should cover
operational changes, new equipment, new cargo, new routes, new government
regulations, and reinforcing defensive driving tactics.
Remedial driver training should be used as needed. It should be used to alleviate
substandard performance in an effort to preclude termination of an otherwise
good employee. Indicators for the need for such training include customer
complaints, public complaints, collision involvement, moving violations, or vehicle
abuse.
DRIVER SUPERVISION
A key objective of loss control is to establish and maintain an operating
environment that avoids collisions. The program must be carried out at the
worker level. Because supervisors control the performance of subordinates, it
follows that workers’ safe performance is also in the scope of their responsibility.
Thus, supervisors carry important duties in teaching safety, enforcing safety, and
motivating people to work safely.
The program you establish should address criteria for unacceptable driving
activity and appropriate disciplinary action. Employees with driving
responsibilities, predominant or incidental, should have driving performance
included in their annual reviews. These reviews should address collisions
(regardless of severity), violations of traffic laws, vehicle condition, adherence to
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maintenance schedules, cargo losses, and anything else that has an impact on
your business.
Your tools for these discussions can be found in motor vehicle reports, fleet
maintenance records, repair bills, traffic citations, lading dockets, etc. When you
consider the investment you have made in vehicles and training, you might have
a greater appreciation for the value of these reviews. If your drivers don't feel
you're concerned, why should they care?
You should run motor vehicle reports on drivers at least annually; semiannually is
best. If you think a driver will tell you about the speeding ticket he got while going
to the beach on the weekend, you need to think again. If that employee doesn't
think you'll ever find out about that ticket, why should he tell you? It didn’t happen
while he was on the job. But when he loses his license because it was
suspended for excessive violations, will he tell you about that?
How about a policy that says, "If we discover a traffic violation before you tell us,
you get a week off without pay; the second time it happens, you're out of a job."
Or "If you get a traffic ticket and don't go to a driver improvement class to avoid
the points, you're history around here." If you don't show employees that you
care what happens to their licenses, why should they care?
Identifying the root cause for traffic citations and collisions will lead back to
management. Mandated routes, unreasonable time schedules, and required
operating hours can all lead to stress and/or fatigue. Examine your policies about
these issues before climbing all over your drivers. Federal regulations have set
maximum driving hours for interstate transportation and require the maintenance
of driver logs. Specifically, drivers cannot drive more than 10 hours in a single
day following eight hours off duty. They cannot drive after being on duty for 15
hours until they have been off duty for eight consecutive hours. And they cannot
drive after being on duty for 60 hours in any seven consecutive days, unless the
carrier operates every day of the week, in which case the limit is 70 hours in any
eight consecutive days.
An incentive program that awards good performers and punishes poor
performers soon turns those poor performers around or they leave. When you
think of incentive programs, try thinking of the fable of the donkey encouraged to
pull a heavy wagon by dangling a carrot in front of him. Sometimes that carrot is
a promotion or a bonus or simply a lapel pin that says "One Million Safe Miles."
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
Each driver should be assigned a specific vehicle to establish accountability for
all losses and to instill a sense of pride and care for the assigned vehicle. It
becomes a personal issue, and you will find it easy to establish a sense of
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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competitiveness where vehicles’ appearance is concerned. Many lawenforcement agencies have been using this practice for years, and vehicle
condition on trade-in has improved dramatically.
Depending on the type of operation you run and the location of your parking
facility for these vehicles, you may even want to consider allowing commuter use
of the vehicles with certain stipulations. If you decide to provide this privilege, you
should establish strict rules. You may want to restrict vehicle operation to
assigned drivers only, excluding family members and all others. A logbook will
keep track of mileage and keep honest drivers honest. If you dispense fuel at
your facility, a control-card system is a valuable tool to encourage honesty and
regulate and control maintenance.
Before vehicles leave your property, drivers should inspect them to ensure they
are safe to operate (known as "pre-trip inspections"). Any deficiencies should be
reported to the vehicle maintenance department for correction before they leave
the property. Upon return drivers should be required to sign a form that lists any
changes in the vehicle's condition. (This is an internal document best designed
for the user’s specific intent.)
Vehicle replacement criteria should be established and strictly enforced. Such
criteria could include mileage, repair costs, age, or physical appearance. Valid
criteria should have value, and mandatory compliance guarantees validity.
A systematic inspection and maintenance schedule should be established based
on mileage, hours of operation, the calendar, or a combination of these. The
manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule is a good beginning for
minimum requirements. Bear in mind that the warranty requires documented
compliance with that schedule. Individual maintenance records should be kept on
each vehicle and generally would be an excellent indicator of when vehicles need
to be replaced.
Several sources exist for fuel access cards, which will track a vehicle's use and
raise certain warning flags for needed maintenance, excessive use, unusual fuel
consumption, and other issues you feel are important. When used properly these
card systems can be invaluable to reduce your fleet operating costs; abused as a
management control, it can lead to disgruntled employees and high personnel
turnovers.
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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COLLISION REVIEW
Every collision, like every injury, regardless of severity, should be reported to
management. A policy that allows minor scratches and dents to go unreported
soon leads to a fleet that is a sad representation of your organization’s image.
Every vehicle should have a standard form in the glove box that asks the basic
questions of who, what, when, where, how, and why. (Such a form is best
designed by the user to meet internal reporting criteria.)
This form then needs to be examined by a collision review board that decides
preventability in percentages. The driver needs to be assessed an equal
percentage of the repairs or deductible. Every automobile insurance policy
contains a deductible, which the insured has agreed to be responsible for and
over which the insurance carrier will cover.
Should you, the employer, pay for the entire deductible if the driver could or
should have prevented an accident? If so, may I work for you? You are a very
generous employer. If that is your policy, you have basically told your drivers that
it is OK to wreck the equipment. But a fleet operator who fires any employee
involved in a collision has to pay for repairs and go through the added expense of
replacing an employee. Both extremes are wrong.
All collisions should be investigated thoroughly; failure to do this says you don’t
care about wrecks and that having one is OK. If you do care and if it's not OK
then do something about it. Start with a driver's incident report, which should be
handed to the driver's supervisor by the start of the next workday. Look into the
circumstances leading up to the collision. How did it happen and why? Could it
have been prevented? Does the driver need retraining on that type of vehicle? Is
there a problem with the driver? Was vehicle maintenance deficient? Were there
extraordinary hazards not anticipated along the route? Is driver error a factor and
does it warrant disciplinary action? You'll never know the answers to these
questions if you don't ask them.
I served as a facilitator for a collision review board and can testify that we helped
more drivers than we impugned. For example, the board reviewed a police officer
with a vision problem created by an incorrect vision prescription, which caused
her to collide with objects on the right side of the vehicle, a driver with low blood
sugar who kept nodding off behind the wheel, and a bus driver with poor depth
perception, which only became evident when backing.
This committee helped identify many problems with simple solutions, mostly
designed by the employees. They assumed ownership of the program and peer
pressure took over to stimulate a sense of caring about the equipment among the
employees. The efforts of the committee reduced a collision rate of 42 wrecks
per million miles traveled to 19 per million miles, and we did it in three years. This
is the type of results any fleet operator can expect when a meaningful program is
in place with support from the top.
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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Vehicle collisions have three causes: 1) the vehicle, 2) the driver, or 3)
environmental conditions. According to the National Safety Council, 77 percent of
all traffic collisions are caused by driver error. That leaves 23 percent for vehicle
malfunction or environmental conditions, such as light, weather, road, or traffic.
The most common errors committed by drivers are excessive speed, failure to
yield the right of way, following too closely, improper turns (includes signaling and
lane changes), improper passing, and improper backing. Backing is a big
problem for truck fleets regardless of the size of the truck.
VEHICLE COLLISION RATE
Few losses are more costly to public employers’ fleet operations than those
caused by employee error. More and more fleet operators realize they can
prevent or at least control most of their losses. A collision frequency rate based
on number of losses per miles traveled has become a valuable yardstick for
measuring safety performance.
Collision frequency is computed by multiplying the number of collisions by
1,000,000 and then dividing by mileage:
Number of Collisions x 1,000,000
Total Fleet Mileage
=
Collision Frequency Rate
Example: Five vehicles in the fleet travel a total of 5,000 miles per month for a
total fleet mileage of 60,000 miles per year. One collision occurs during the year.
The frequency rate is 16.66, as shown here:
1 x 1,000,000
60,000
=
16.66
As a means of measuring safety performance in a fleet operation the rate is most
valuable when used to compare one fleet's rate with similar operations. Too often
the rate of one insured is taken out of context by comparing it with larger or
smaller operations, which leads to false conclusions.
For measurements to be reliable, incident rates should be based on clearly
defined terms. For example, we must have a clear understanding of what
constitutes a collision.
The American National Standards Institute and the National Safety Council use
the definition, “A motor vehicle accident is any occurrence involving a fleet motor
vehicle which results in death, injury, or property damage, unless such fleet
vehicle is properly parked. Who was injured, what property was damaged, or to
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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what extent, where an accident occurred, and who was responsible are not
factors.”
ANSI Standard D15.1, Method of Recording and Measuring Motor Vehicle Fleet
Accident Experience and Passenger Accident Experience, states, “It is the intent
that those occurrences, resulting because of errors in judgment or technique of
drivers, or of maintenance, are to be considered motor vehicle fleet accidents,
and that those incidents that merely coincidentally involve vehicles are not to be
considered motor vehicle fleet accidents.
“Whether accidents occur because of any one driver's fault, mechanical failure,
or another ‘blame placing’ factor is not to be considered in determining whether
an incident is a motor vehicle fleet accident. Likewise, the rules on any driver
award program that may be based on ‘preventability’ or other such factors has no
bearing in determining whether any particular incident is to be considered a
motor vehicle fleet accident.
“The amount of damage or the cost of repair is not to be a factor. The definition
includes any property damage. This does not mean, however, that ordinary
contact of bumpers while parking vehicles, or any other such contacts that over a
long period of time cause an accumulation of small scratches of the normal ‘wear
and tear’ type, are to be reported. A bending, crushing, or breaking of a bumper
is not a ‘wear and tear’ incident.
“Accidents involving the use of incidental equipment, such as cranes, shovels,
and related equipment, mounted on a motor vehicle are not to be considered
motor vehicle fleet accidents unless the motor vehicle is being operated as a
motor vehicle at the time of the accident.”
PROMOTION
If you tell people you have a safety program but don't ever talk about it and its
successes (that’s called advertising!), the program doesn't really exist. A paper
program is as valuable as the paper it's written on, no more. You should promote
your program through bulletin boards, posters, payroll inserts, award contests,
newsletters, and any other means available.
Summary
A vehicle safety program begins with careful driver selection and training as well
as establishing criteria for driver suspension. Looking at the vehicle side of the
equation, you need to also involve the drivers in your preventive maintenance
procedures. Inevitably, there will be collisions. Yet even in the stress of such
events there are practices that drivers should follow to limit your liability. Your
collision rate will obviously be a big factor in the cost of your fleet insurance
policy. Finally, by promoting your fleet safety program, you will encourage drivers
and their supervisors to follow your procedures. To be sure you have a well© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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rounded fleet safety plan on paper – and in practice – check your plan against
the following sample fleet policy checklist.
SAMPLE FLEET POLICY CHECKLIST
1. State law requires all drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seatbelts. As
our employee, you are expected to comply with this law when operating our
vehicle.
2. Our vehicles are to be used exclusively for the services we provide.
3. Our vehicles are to be used by employees only. Insurance coverage does not
extend to family members or friends of employees.
4. All occupants of our vehicles are to be employees and non-employees with
prior approval. Drivers are not to have unauthorized riders in our vehicles. All
passengers must wear seatbelts.
5. All drivers are expected to operate our vehicles with due care and in
accordance with all traffic laws. All traffic violations/citations and collisions,
regardless of severity, must be immediately reported to supervisors.
6. Daily vehicle condition reports must be submitted to immediate supervisors
before the end of a shift. All necessary repairs and/or scheduled maintenance
are the assigned driver’s responsibility. Drivers are responsible to determine if
repairs or maintenance are needed and affect the safe operation of the vehicle.
This must be reported it to supervisors. Supervisors are required to approve all
requests for repair or maintenance that has a direct effect on vehicle safety.
7. All drivers of our vehicles are expected to maintain the appropriate license for
the vehicle assigned and submit a current motor vehicle report to their
supervisors every six months.
8. Compliance with these rules is a condition of continued employment.
Any driver involved in a collision involving one of our vehicles may be
assessed a portion of uninsured damages depending on degree of
preventability.
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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Post-test
1. What percentage of non-fatal occupational injuries is attributable to vehicle
collisions?
A) 15 percent
2. What percentage of on-the-job fatalities is attributable to vehicle
collisions?
A) 24 percent
3. Name three top priorities of a sound fleet safety program.
A) Required compliance; mandatory drug
testing; safety precedence over
schedules/routes
4. At what point are you required to have a CDL (commercial driver’s license)
with passenger endorsement on your license?
A) 16 or more passengers
5. What tools are available for supervisors to conduct performance
evaluations?
A) Motor vehicle reports; fleet maintenance
records; repair bills; traffic citations; lading
dockets; etc.
6. What can be an invaluable tool to reduce your fleet operating costs?
A) Fuel access cards
7. What is the formula for determining vehicle collision rate?
A) Number of Collisions x 1,000,000
Total Fleet Mileage
=
Collision frequency rate
8. Name the three causes of vehicle collisions.
A) Driver error; vehicle condition;
environmental conditions
© 2003 by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health
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