6 Steps to Ensure the Safety of Your Fleet

Safety should always be top of mind for fleet managers and truck operators. But with the pressure to make deadlines and commitments, how do you ensure drivers are staying safe on the roads? Well, one way to accomplish this is to have a driver safety plan in place that stresses several common sense measures to make drivers, cargo and other motorists safe. Here are six steps you need to consider when putting together or tweaking a fleet safety program.

• Screen and select drivers carefully: The first part of any effective fleet safety program is to hire the right people. Thus, you should establish clear hiring standards and a thorough screening process for anyone who drives for your company.

• Encourage your drivers to take scheduled breaks: Hundreds of thousands of vehicle collisions happen every year due to drowsy driving. Thus, you should encourage your drivers to take a rest along their route and to map out those breaks. Studies show that rest stops helps drivers improve their reaction time and increases their overall level of alertness.

• Keep the lines of communications open: By this we mean that management should communicate with drivers on a frequent basis about their driving and any problems they may be encountering. After all, your drivers won’t know something is wrong with their driving unless you tell them.

• Learn from accidents and mistakes: When accidents do occur take the opportunity to learn from them. Use what you find to improve policies, enhance training, etc.

• Embrace technology: The right technology has the ability to drastically improve fleet safety. Telematics in particular provides visibility to aggressive driving behavior like harsh acceleration and deceleration events, idle time, and speeding. This information can then be used to either train, discipline or replace drivers.

• Formalize a plan for vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance: This can help reduce unexpected breakdowns, and can assist in avoiding accidents that are caused by faulty equipment.

These are just a few ways to increase fleet safety. It is also important to maximize the efficiency of your fleet. You can do so with an auxiliary power unit which will save on idling costs. You can also improve fleet performance for the unit you already have. We sell and service APU units and stand behind our products.