FLEET SAFETY PROGRAMMES

‘YOU NEED TO MAKE A COMMITMENT TO YOUR SAFETY PROGRAMME.’

If your company has drivers on the road, you are already exposed to major financial liabilities which may result from vehicle accidents. By investing in fleet safety, you can save lives, prevent injuries, increase productivity and significantly minimize your company’s exposure to ever increasing accident costs.

Vehicle accidents are probably our number one cause of job related deaths. In addition to the obvious property damage and pain, both physical and emotional, vehicle accidents are tremendously costly.

From minor fender benders to catastrophic fatal crashes, today’s average accident costs about R25 000. Fifty percent of your fleet is likely to be involved in an accident each year, so calculate your costs.

When it comes to driving standards and the high rate of accidents and personal injuries, one wonders why fleet owners do not pay more attention to this aspect of fleet management. This is particularly important when it comes to accident analysis.
These programmes are an essential part of driver safety management and form part of the company’s accident management programme.


“A pedestrian hit me and went under the car”. “In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.”

These are statements that, hopefully, you will never hear from one of your drivers. However, if your company does not have a very good safety programme in place – you may hear them and other similar stories.

US fleet owners have always been very concerned about safety programmes. Safety surveys have shown that the average accident ratio in US fleets was down to 8%. Many fleet owners think they are doing well when their accident ratio is down to 25%.

This area of fleet management has to receive a lot more attention. The first element of a fleet safety programme is a commitment to LOSS CONTROL. Everyone in the company – management, drivers and fleet managers - must demonstrate a strong commitment to safety. It all comes down to correct driver attitudes and behaviour.

Other elements include the proper development, co-ordination and implementation of your policy. Elements of the policy need to include the objectives, purpose and performance standards, and well-documented reports.

All accidents need to be examined properly.

There are ways to overcome this. One way is to meet with the driver and find out if he or she lacks the basic knowledge regarding safe driving habits. Also investigate the accident thoroughly and document your findings properly. If you can, design your own reporting forms and charts. Keep them simple, but record all the facts.

This is where the accident committee has to play a vital role in the safety and accident management process.


Don’t rely on the insurance broker – their summaries are usually no more than a listing of events and costs. Very little information relating to accident control is ever included. It is important to discover accident TRENDS in order to identify accident patterns that may be developing. So the simple question has to be: “Did you identify a trend and if so, what action have you taken to educate, advise or warn drivers about these current driving hazards.

Many fleet owners send their drivers on defensive driving courses with very good result. One fleet of some 400 vehicles cut their accident rate by half, over a period of eighteen months. The repair costs were also reduced by about 25%. So it is possible to do something specific about your accident trends and costs.

Another idea is to evaluate driving abilities and accident histories at the time the employee is hired. However, in the end it is up to – the Fleet Manager – to implement a proper fleet safety programme in the company.


THE TOTAL SOLUTION:

A Safety Programme should:

1. Reduce accidents, injuries, lost time and liability risks
2. Meet driver training requirements efficiently
3. Lower your overall fleet operating costs

A Safety Programmes enables your company to avoid many of the costs and unfortunate results of vehicle accidents, while increasing driver safety and security. If you are concerned about getting assistance you could give us at FleetCUBE a call. Fleetcube has a fully developed Safety Programme that can be implemented in your company. FleetCUBE can also offer you a complete internet based AARTO/ Driver management system.

SAFETY POLICY IMPLEMENTATION:

By creating a viable organization- wide policy, you can take a giant first step towards providing cost saving accident protection for your entire fleet. What’s more, a high quality, well managed safety programme will increase your organization's productivity. Above all, it can save lives.

DRIVER EVALUATION AND RECORD KEEPING:

Driver error is a primary or contributing cause in 94 percent of vehicle accidents. Yet, many fleet managers know very little about the people who drive on company business. A proper programme includes verification of driver’s licenses, evaluation of records and maintenance of a complete accurate driver information base.

The process needs to start even before employees are appointed. It must form part of the company’s HR policy. Part of the documentation for a new employee must relate to the driver’s policy manual (An appropriate extract from the main fleet policy document). This document must be signed by the employee.

In some companies a new employee has to go on a drivers training course before being allowed to drive a company vehicle.

SAFETY TRAINING:

Different types of driver safety training to meet varying organizational requirements are essential. The more intense behind-the-wheel training, live presentations and videotape programmes should be designed to suit your organizations particular needs and budget, whether your needs involve the improvement of driving skills, risk evaluation techniques or driver attitudes.


EMERGENCY ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE PLANS:

Give your drivers around-the-clock peace of mind. With just one toll-free call, these nationwide services and towing networks are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to provide your drivers with “on-the-spot” help. Consider using one for your fleet. However, make sure that your drivers know which service is contracted to your fleet.

ACCIDENT REPORTING AND REPAIR MANAGEMENT:

The first step in reducing accidents is to understand their causes and effects. But to draw useful conclusions, your accident data must be complete. You need the correct information on all your accidents. You must also be able to solve four of the toughest challenges associated with fleet accidents:
• Obtaining accident reports from drivers;
• recording accident information consistently in a uniform manner within a centralised database,
• repairing vehicles properly at the right cost
• managing claims recovery.

CLAIMS RECOVERY:

Every accident should be reviewed for any possible claims recovery. After gathering all necessary information, you should aggressively pursue reimbursement from all accident related expenses from the party at fault. This will go a long way to reducing costs.

VEHICLE SAFETY EQUIPMENT KIT:

Always inconvenient and usually costly, vehicle breakdowns can also be frightening and even dangerous. Provide your fleet with vehicle safety equipment kits. You can meet your drivers’ needs for personal and vehicle safety while supplying remedies for common breakdowns.

SAFETY SAVES!

Your ultimate goal must be to prevent accidents within your fleet and reduce the severity of those that do occur. In addition to the obvious reduction in property damage, pain and suffering, the bottom line of your efforts should show a real rand saving for your organization each year.


THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE TYPE OF INFORMATION NEEDED TO CONTROL A FLEET ACCIDENT AND SAFETY PROGRAMME



FLEET ACCIDENT RESULTS

QUARTER YEAR
1. TOTAL VEHICLES
2. TOTAL KILOMETRES DRIVEN
3. AVERAGE KMS PER VEHICLE
4. TOTAL ACCIDENTS REPORTED:
PREVENTABLE ACCIDENTS
NON-PREVENTABLE ACCIDENTS
5. PERSONAL INJURIES
6. FATALITIES
7. TOTAL VEHICLE DAMAGE
8. AVERAGE VEHICLE DAMAGE
9. TOTAL ACCIDENT RATIO/MILLION KM
10. TOTAL PREVENTABLE ACCIDENT RATIO
11. TOTAL NON-PREVENTABLE ACCIDENT RATIO

It is important for you to realize that an insurance programme and its related costs are directly affected by the type of safety and accident management programme run by a company.

There is no one answer to these insurance and safety programmes. It requires constant appraisal by the fleet manager, who also has to apply appropriate penalties and incentives for bad or good driving.

If you are concerned about getting assistance you could give us at FleetCUBE a call. (011 782 9211). Fleetcube has a fully developed Safety Programme that can be implemented in your company. FleetCUBE can also offer you a complete internet based AARTO/ Driver management system.