Humans make mistakes; however, making mistakes while driving can be fatal. To address this, continuous training must take place and workers have to be educated on how to keep themselves and their coworkers safe.
At Forbes, we had our best-to-date safety performance in 2021. We saw major improvements on safety statistics from previous years and are proud of our crews’ efforts and commitment to make this happen. With over 16.7 million kilometres driven by Forbes employees in 2020, focusing on road safety is a top priority.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the U.S (CDC). Most recent statistics show that 1 591 people lost their lives in driving accidents in Canada (2020) with over 72 917 injuries (Statistics Canada). In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 33 244 fatal crashes in 2019. Many things can cause accidents including:
-road conditions
-fatigue and falling asleep
-distracted driving
-driving under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or even certain medications
-inexperience
-reckless driving
Now that summer weather is just around the corner and many of us are no longer driving in winter conditions, it can be easy to shrug off the risks of the road. However, we can’t take any breaks from paying attention to the risks and eliminating hazards.
Driver behavior and attitudes are the biggest contributor to collisions, so education and training is our focus; this is why all Forbes employees with driving privileges continuously receive updated driver’s training. In the New Year, we successfully launched Alert Driving through FleetDefense, which is an interactive, web-based training program for all our drivers. Each month, a new course becomes available and is required to be completed.
-prepare ahead of time by knowing your route
-check road and site conditions. Weather can change very quickly which impacts road conditions
-inspect your vehicle
-proper load securement prior to departure
-load weights calculated properly when hauling load or trailers
-keep the inside of vehicle clean to avoid distractions
-wear your seatbelt
-ensure all mirrors are set up properly
-drive to the conditions. Ask yourself, “is it worth the risk to drive?”
-keep your eyes on the road while encouraging passengers to stay alert as well
-keep dash area clear of papers
-stay off devices
-allow safe distance between you and other drivers
-give yourself time to arrive at your destination, take breaks when needed, and check that loads haven’t shifted
-pull over for phone calls
-say no to unsafe work
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With risk assessments, a safe work plan, and communications with full crew involvement, 100% safe work is achieved. To keep everyone safe, our monthly training updates will be completed by Forbes employees to emphasize the importance of road safety.
What are you doing to keep our roads and workers safe?
