If your business involves a sales force or logistics department that crosses the length and breadth of the country, not only are they expanding your reach, they’re also adding enormously to your risk and liability as an enterprise. While managing your employees is easy when they’re under the same roof as you, it can be exponentially harder when they’re out on the road. Nonetheless, as long as their vehicles bear your branding, you share in their liability. Everything they do on the road impacts on you. Of course, you trust your employees but you want to ensure that they are safe and that they are perfectly representative of your brand when they hit the road.
Make sure drivers are aware of their own liability
It might be your name on the vehicle’s branding, but employees should be aware of their obligations and liability before they step in the car. Your drivers know that if they are injured by another driver’s negligence they can contact levininjuryfirm.com/ to bring the negligent driver to justice, but they also know that it works both ways. Thus, no vehicle should hit the road without a driver’s signed agreement so that you can hold them to account if they are remiss in their duties and responsibilities.
Educate your drivers
Training is one of the best ways to enforce your standards and ensure that each and every member of staff lives up to the promise in your mission statement and the values upon which your brand was built. Although they may know most aspects of their jobs inside out, your employees should also be subject to specific training and education programs that will help them stay safe and uphold the business’ good name on the road.
Ensuring that they’re aware of the adequate safety and maintenance procedures and that they know to take regular rest breaks to prevent driver fatigue are a given, but you should also educate them on how they can stay alert and aware on the road to prevent their risk of incident. Even little things like drinking plenty of water can prevent distracting cramps and headaches. You should also educate them on the dangers of chugging too much coffee on the road. The odd latte every now and then is fine, but chain drinking them can make your drivers sluggish and less able to perceive hazards in a timely manner. This is because caffeine blocks your brain’s receptors for an important neurotransmitter called adenosine. Thus, when that surge of caffeine wears off your drivers are actually drowsier.
Lay out a clear anti-distraction policy
Your drivers are unlikely to get behind the wheel while intoxicated but they may not think twice before checking their phone for alerts. Sometimes, the lapse of concentration required to read a text can mean the difference between a safe and uneventful journey and a catastrophe that jeopardises the safety of your driver, other road users and the reputation of your business. Ensure that drivers know the penalties for using a mobile device at the wheel, but also give them the flexibility so that their hurry worry doesn’t prevent them from pulling over and using their phones safely.