Safety beyond the truck

October 2, 2024

“Safety comes first here”
“We’re a safety-focused company”
"Safety is at the heart of what we do"

I’ve heard these phrases enough times that they have become cliché. I know they're coming from an honest place, and the people saying them have generally devoted a significant portion of their working life to improving safety in their respective workplaces, but they are still said so commonly, they’ve lost their power.

In general, the industry has done a great job of improving safety for drivers and other motorists on the road. Fleets outfit their trucks with the latest safety equipment, have solid training and performance management programs, and these days also have dashcam-based coaching programs for continuous improvement.

That’s all great, but it’s only one part of the equation.

While the industry has done a great job of safety when the truck is moving, we see a lot less attention being paid to driver safety when the truck isn’t moving. That’s an area where many fleets still have blind spots.

To truly be safety-focused, a fleet needs to consider every aspect of the driver’s experience, from the time they report for work at the beginning of the week until they go home at the end. That includes everything that happens at the terminal, at customer sites, at truck stops, and everything in between. And that's where we find the gaps.

As an example, in the Best Fleets to Drive For® program we ask companies what they do to protect drivers when the truck is parked. Fleets that score well have panic buttons on their ELDs, personal safety training, and support programs to ensure drivers don’t find themselves in unsafe places. However, a significant portion of respondents don’t have anything at all. It’s not that they don’t care about their drivers, it’s just that they’ve never thought about it.

Fleets always tell us that safety comes first, but they don’t really need to say it. When drivers truly feel safe, it’s apparent through a variety of places like retention, safety performance, and other metrics. When carriers really do focus on safety as a corporate priority (as discussed in this recent webinar), it comes through in the day to day operations of the company.

So what does it really mean to be a “safety first” fleet? Here are two things to consider:

• What happens when the truck isn’t moving?
• Who else is demonstrating a commitment to safety?

When the truck isn’t moving

Keeping drivers safe when the truck isn’t moving means thinking about their experience at shipper sites, making sure they have access to parking, and making sure they stay safe while parked. These are things that need to be considered by the whole company, not just the driver and safety manager, in order to be executed properly.

As an example, it floored me to learn that until recently it was common for a truck key to open multiple vehicles. As a non-trucker, I can’t imagine having a car and not knowing how many other people had keys that would unlock it. The idea that a driver may be staying overnight in a truckstop, and there could be any number of other people that have keys to that truck, strikes me as crazy. I get the practicality of it from a fleet perspective and the desire to avoid endlessly chasing down keys and making copies, but it’s pretty hard to argue that driver safety is paramount when they’re not even provided a secure space inside their own vehicle.

That's just one example, but there are plenty of other places where things like this need to be considered. The fleets that do really well in this area have thought about the complete experience for a driver with their company:

• What it’s like when drivers walk into the terminal (and, are they even allowed in the terminal)?
• What happens when their trucks need maintenance?
• How are they treated during pickups and deliveries?
• Where and how are they taking their off-duty time?

There are ways to address these questions to ensure the driver never needs to worry about personal safety. Most fleets have something for some of these (in-house maintenance, for instance) but it’s often only covering some of the scenarios drivers encounter. To really cover the issue thoroughly, all of the scenarios need to be considered, and that relies on…

Getting everyone involved

This is another place where most people have done some work but still have blindspots. It’s also how we can tell if fleets really are committed to safety across the entire company.

A driver should almost never just “find” themselves in a bad situation. Every bad situation is a result of decisions that were made earlier, by a variety of people. The choice of freight to carry, the choice of equipment to carry it, the routing, the selection of fuel network and parking along the way, the schedule for delivery, and even the matching of driver to fleet manager. All of those decisions contribute to the situation the driver is in, and companies can make decisions that make that situation more or less safe.

When they’re focused on creating a safer total work experience, we can see it. It’s evident in how they manage shipper relations, handle natural disasters, track hometime, and measure manager performance. In a fleet that's truly focused on safety:

• Ops will routinely route drivers away from potential safety issues such as bad weather and other disruptions that could cause problems.
• Sales and customer service staff work closely and consistently with customers to improve the pickup and drop off experience, and hold them accountable when they don't.
• Maintenance makes choices that improve the safety experience, even if it seems more costly in the short run.
• Executives have defined a business strategy that encourages those departments to do those things and supports their decisions.

Most importantly, we see company leadership demonstrating a safety-focused approach to everything they’re doing, whether or not it has anything to do with drivers. For those companies, it’s as if management asks “what would the general public think if they saw us doing this?” and conducts themselves so there’s always a positive response to that question.

Having seen many safety-focused people at industry events, I’ve seen first-hand that they comport themselves the same way whether they’re in front of drivers or attending a social event. There’s a reason why some companies routinely make the Best Fleets Top 20 and win safety awards as well, and that top-to-bottom company commitment to providing a safe, positive workplace is certainly part of it.

If leadership models safety-oriented behavior, and if all departments work together to demonstrate that they’re thinking about it as well (demonstrate it, not just talk about it) then the message resonates much more deeply and the effects are felt across the whole organization.

Creating a truly safety-focused business is a lot more than just keeping people safe when they're driving, but when it's done right the effects are obvious and the results are clear. Drivers know it, and we know it when we look at these fleets. And that never gets old, no matter how many times I see it!