Luck is a word devoid of sense; nothing can exist without a cause." (Voltaire) |
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Assembling the Safety Network
Everyone in the transportation, logistics and supply chain network has some affect on safety and compliance. Executives, management, operations, administrative, driver, service, support personnel and customers are all pieces of the safety puzzle. Actions and attitudes link to form an organizational safety culture that interacts with equipment and environmental factors forming a complex matrix. Unless this system has sound safety management, underwriting the risk is just a roll of the dice. Why?
A single overlooked or purposely bypassed safety precaution can lead to theft, cargo loss, equipment failure and driver error, resulting in injury, collision, pain, suffering - even lost life. A motor vehicle is a lethal weapon that can inflict serious damage, altering and ending lives in the blink of an eye. Companies have been sued for damages, even forced to close their doors. Employees have even served time in jail due to negligence. How much insurance is needed? Is the fleet even insurable? |
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Despite this exposure, safety staff reduction is a recent trend amongst commercial motor carriers, insurance companies and safety services providers. Many have shed loss control personnel in light of economic pressure. Remaining staff members, given new responsibilities for safety oversight may be scratching their heads wondering "how and where do we start?"
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Whatever the size of the fleet, all safety programs must contain at least basic core elements and be managed effectively. Simply relying on luck, fate, fortune or assigning safety to a single individual are recipes for failure. Market forces trend towards internal delegation and outsourcing safety functions and processes. At Fleet Safety Resources we assist insurance companies and their clients by 1) assessing and identifying missing or deficient fleet safety program elements and 2) providing support to help complete the fleet safety puzzle.
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Key #1: Establish accountability and responsibility as the first and foremost step each time you put a new piece in your safety puzzle. Everyone, including vendors and 3rd party service providers must know, understand and perform their assigned safety responsibilities. It's human nature to want to be of value and contribute but people only do what they are motivated to do (positively or negatively). Since positive attarcts and negative repels, always use this rule of thumb: Be ruthless with time and gracious with people. Unfortunately, many in leadership positions take the opposite approach and wind up addressing an audience of closed minds. A great majority of root cause analyses uncover a communication failure somewhere along the line. Therefore effective verbal, listening and written communication skills can go a long way to prevent the pain, suffering and heartache associated with an accident or injury.
When designing a safety program and it's components, follow this formula:
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Preview the message ("This meeting, chapter, policy, etc. will be about .......")
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Communicate the message (Use consistent, structured format and stay on topic)
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Summarize the message (" .... So today we learned, talked read, about etc. ...... ")
Finally, check for understanding and buy in. Note that it is also human nature to not want to be thought of as unitelligent. When asking summary questions like "do you understand?" or "do you have any questions", the natural response is a head nod or hesitation to speak up for fear of being thought of as unintelligent. Therefore never rely on this method when summarizing. At minimum use some type of quiz, checklist or acknowledgement form. Although this provides great documentation of due diligence in informing, educating and training, be very careful to check the results for complete understanding before filing away. Asking open ended questions like "where do you see this material applying?" or "how do you see this helping you?" should elicit a more accurate gauge of kowledge, understanding and retention. Who knows, this informal brainstorming session could even lead to new revenue or cost saving ideas.
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