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Tune up your safety plan

First, look back over the previous year and review the activities you carried out. Then, to keep your safety program effective, review the past year to make sure that your program includes best practices and then see what you might need to add.

Were new employees:

Given a safety orientation?

Informed of reporting requirements for injuries and illness?

Told what to do in emergencies and how to report hazardous conditions?

What about your safety committee or safety meetings? Did you document the issues your employees brought up and track them to resolution? Were minutes of the meetings prepared and attendance taken? Each of these activities demonstrates management’s involvement and support for safety.

Does your safety program need changes? Based on research on distracted driving, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently banned texting while driving a truck or bus. Does your company have a policy on this and other forms of distracted driving? If not, perhaps now is the time to draft one and implement it. Ask your drivers to give you feedback on the policy to make it better.

You could just continue with the status quo for your safety program, but then your program falters and becomes harder to maintain. Just like keeping your fleet in tune for best performance, a tune up of your safety program keeps it effective.