For businesses involving fleets, something which should be an utmost priority is their driver’s safety. Accidents or any other unfortunate events on the road not only incur hefty repair costs and downtime loss but also put your driver’s life at risk. It is crucial to ensure that your fleet driver is safe on the road. Here’s our 6-point approach on how you can improve your driver’s safety:
Set Safety Policies
Companies need to draft policies that can be communicated to the drivers. With safety policies in place, drivers will know what they can and cannot do while they are on duty. Fleet managers can discuss with the drivers about certain standards and procedures that the policies include for their safety. However, to enforce safety policies that are being taken seriously, fleet managers need to have better visibility within the operations for which a fleet management system is required. With efficient fleet management software, it is easier to avoid safety-related problems that otherwise can result in costly expenses.
Regular Vehicle Inspection
Your driver’s safety takes a toll if your vehicle is not in a good condition. Hence, to keep potential safety issues at bay, it is vital to take vehicle inspections seriously. Besides ensuring your driver’s safety, a vehicle inspection will also help prevent any breakdowns in the future. With fleet management software, fleet managers do not have to go through inspection forms for multiple vehicles as they will proactively get updates about the maintenance schedule. This way, any safety issues or risks can be identified early to also avoid unnecessary expenses.
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Educate Your Drivers
To promote a safe culture, you should train and educate your drivers. For this, companies can come up with a safety training program for drivers. The driver should be told about how important it is to observe their surroundings and to be safe on the road. You can also guide them about the right driving behaviour and how dangerous driving practice increases the likelihood of getting involved in accidents. With fleet management software, you can check which of your drivers are performing their best. You can also offer incentives to encourage them to adapt to the best driving behaviour on the road.
Focus on Sanitization
Considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, you should boost the sanitization efforts for your driver’s safety. Make sure that the vehicles are regularly sanitized and drivers are also taking all the necessary precautions for basic cleanliness and sanitation. You can invest in fleet management software to keep a tab on which of your vehicles are travelling to the highly contaminated areas and those vehicles should be sanitized on priority.
Maximise Visibility with Telematics
Telematics is a great tool in addition to fleet management software to micromanage your driver’s safety. Fleet managers will get updates about the journey in real-time and this will help to ensure that both the drivers and fleet are safe on the road. Pairing telematics with fleet management software will let you have all the updates at your fingertips including the vehicle’s location and your driver’s behaviour. You will also get updates about any trouble or issues with the vehicle and the chosen routes so that better and informed decisions can be taken. This way, safe driving practices can be encouraged and the efficiency within the business operations will also be enhanced.
Give Drivers a Break
Finally, fleet companies need to understand that an alert driver is a safe driver and to stay alert while driving, drivers need to be given time to take a rest. Your drivers are driving all day long and doing a lot of hard work and hence they deserve to be well-rested. When they are fully focused and alert, they will be more safe and productive. Hence, let them have breaks and off days so that they can have enough sleep especially after night shifts.
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