Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine April 2018

S tate, National, Chapter News State national Chapter News

Confusion about the Rules In larger organizations, it’s common for confusion to occur between the people that manage drivers and fleet vehicles. The person in charge of safety might think a certain set of driver selection criteria are being followed, but the human resources area may be using completely different guidelines when they actually do the hiring. As a best practice, get together at least annually (more is better) with HR, safety/loss control and your fleet manager. Make sure everyone is on the same page about your fleet safety program and who is cleared to drive company vehicles. This is also a great time to update your driver list. Distracted Driving Distracted drivers put themselves, your vehicles, and the general public at risk. To minimize distraction, band the use of electronics (tablets, phone, etc.) while behind the wheel of a company vehicle. Creating a distracted driving policy, and asking employees to acknowledge it, is a good way to ensure employee awareness. Find More Online • Does Your Fleet Safety Program Contain These Six Components? • Driver and Fleet Safety Resources • Safety Program Templates – Fleet Safety Article provided by EMC Insurance

sure they are illuminating the right part of the road and regularly check that headlights, directional signals and taillights are working. • Watch for animal hazards , because deer and other kinds of wildlife are especially active around dawn and dusk. Careless Driver Selection Employees’ poor driving behaviors can put your company (and your company’s reputation) at risk. Make sure you don’t hand the keys to just anybody. We’ve got a full list of recommended driver qualifications criteria, but these points are especially key: • A valid driver’s license is a must- have for anyone driving one of your vehicles. Make sure they have one. • A clean motor vehicle record (MVR), because past behavior is the best indictor or future behavior. • A clean drug/alcohol test , especially if your company’s vehicles are considered commercial vehicles by the DOT. • For heavy trucks and trucks pulling trailers , the drivers needs to have the appropriate commercial drivers’ license. Need a hand making sure your drives have got the right stuff? Consider subscribing to a driver monitoring service that will run initial MVRs and send alerts when a driver receives a violation. EMC Insurance policyholders can get discounted driver monitoring services from SuperVision .