The essential features needed to build a road safety program. Having road safety program will help protect your workers and everything within the organization. Due to the necessity and demands, we will be listing out the essentials features which are needed to build a good road safety program for the organization. Necessary components are actions that must be taken and conditions that must be achieved of a successful program. Whether you have a large fleet with professional drivers, a couple of vans with employees making local deliveries or staff using their own vehicles to meet with customers, these essential features will be highly beneficial to you and your team.
1. Understand your responsibility towards driving employees:
Employers are a lot of times ended with a range of obligations – financial requirements, obligations to shareholders, ethical and social duties to the public, clients and customers. They also have important legal obligations for the safety of their employees, including employees who drive in the course of their work. Learn more about these legal responsibilities and fix it to the immediate and necessary standard as this will not only help the employee but also the organization.
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2. Communicate and engage with employees
Another necessary ingredient of a program that works is the active involvement of employees – the people that have to apply measures described in the safety plan. They have the best knowledge of the hazards they are likely to encounter and also have good ideas on how to reduce, minimize or fix the risk associated with those Hazards.
Get their help to build a better plan. Listen to their suggestions. Respond to their feedback. Engage them in regular safety meetings. Hold impromptu tailgate meetings. Host driver-led lunch and learn. Communicate with them, not to them. Involve them in a road safety conversation.
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3. Develop road safety policies and safe work procedures
Most organizations feel road safety work is mainly the work of the drivers in charge. While the driver may have his or her own duty to perform, organizations must also know they are obligated to provide police and procedure which these workers must follow in order to achieve the right result.
Safe work procedures describe the steps or practices employees need to follow to minimize the risk caused by a hazard (for example, what employees need to do before getting behind the wheel and the behaviours expected of them while they are driving). The Road Safety Template identifies many of the policies and procedures that should be included in your plan.
4. Establish driver selection criteria and the driver-review process:
You may already check for a driver’s license before you hire an employee, but how often does your organization require drivers to submit a current driver’s abstract? Who reviews them? How do supervisors evaluate driving behaviours and skills to confirm drivers are qualified to undertake the work you assign? Look to our Driver Qualifications section for more information and guidance. The organization must make it part of their duty to ensure they are on constant follow-up with reviewing of the driver when necessary.
5. Regularly evaluate program effectiveness and make improvements.
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Like many other business systems, road safety is a continual improvement process. A group of individuals such as the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee with management and employee should be designated as representatives to annually review the organization’s results, evaluate the effectiveness of existing measures and propose ways to improve past performance. Ask them to think about how the business has changed during the year and design methods to address emerging road safety hazards. With effectiveness in program evaluation, it becomes more easier for the organization to reach their goal and targets on time.
