Guidelines for Employers to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes

There are many employers across the United States that daily entrust the use of motor vehicles to employees. In many profession, it is necessary for employees to drive. While most people typically think of truckers when considering professions requiring driving, there are many others. Traveling salespeople, delivery services, oil field workers and even driver’s safety course instructors are all professions requiring the use of a motor vehicle by employees.

OSHA has produced, in conjuction with NETS and NHTSA, and published a document entitled “Guidelines for Employers to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes.” The introduction states:

Every 12 minutes someone dies in a motor vehicle crash, every 10 seconds an injury occurs and every 5 seconds a crash occurs. Many of these incidents occur during the workday or during the commute to and from work. Employers bear the cost for injuries that occur both on and off the job. Whether you manage a fleet of vehicles, oversee a mobile sales force or simply employ commuters, by implementing a driver safety program in the workplace you can greatly reduce the risks faced by your employees and their families while protecting your company’s bottom line.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for all ages. Crashes on and off the job have far-reaching financial and psychological effects on employees, their coworkers and families, and their employers.

You need a driver safety program:

• To save lives and to reduce the risk of life-altering injuries within your workforce.
• To protect your organization’s human and financial resources.
• To guard against potential company and personal liabilities associated witd crashes involving employees driving on company business.

Your program should work to keep the driver and those with whom he/she shares the road safe. And, if necessary, the program must work to change driver attitudes, improve behavior, and increase skills to build a “be safe” culture. By instructing your employees in basic safe driving practices and then rewarding safety-conscious behavior, you can help your employees and their families avoid tragedy.

Employees are an employer’s most valuable assets. Workplace driver safety programs not only make good business sense but also are a good employee relations tool, demonstrating that employers care about their employees.

This booklet outlines ten steps for building a driver safety program in your workplace. These steps will be useful to any organization regardless of size of the organization, type of traffic encountered, number of vehicles involved, or whether employees drive company or personal vehicles for work purposes. Also included are real-life examples of successful safety programs, key traffic safety issues to address in the workplace, instructions for calculating your organiza-tion’s loss from motor vehicle crashes, and a list of resources to help you fine-tune your program.

It is an important document that should be read and studied by all employers. For employers that use the public roadways to make a profit, safety of all those on the roadways should be a top priority and stressed constantly. Training drivers on the information contained in the report above is one avenue employers could use to stress safety.

If someone you know was injured, killed or suffered serious personal injuries as the result of an accident involving a commercial vehicle, tractor-trailer or someone on the job, encourage them to immediately contact a competent attorney for advice. It is extremely important to do this quickly to ensure that evidence is preserved, statements are taken, and the rights of all claimants are protected.