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Lessons Learned:
Recognizing And Eliminating Driving Hazards

By Frederick C. Clark, ARM
Vice President

We know that accidents have immediate and contributing causes, which relate to hazards encountered while driving. Identifying these hazards so that they can be controlled or eliminated is the first step toward avoiding accidents. If a hazard is not eliminated, it will repeat with potentially more serious consequences. The methods used for this hazard identification work should be varied and widely applied to the driving activity.

The recognition of hazards is the most difficult aspect of this work. Eliminating an identified hazard is usually a matter of applying the necessary resources for corrective action. Hazard recognition depends on trained, experienced people who are willing and able to devote the time to identify and document the observation. Usually, it is advisable to have drivers, supervisors, safety people, dispatchers and mechanics help in identifying the hazards faced by the drivers.

Let’s stop a minute and begin to develop a general list of hazards that a driver could potentially face:

Loading and Unloading Hazards

  • Walking
  • Bending
  • Lifting
  • Carrying
  • Maneuvering
  • Hose handling
  • Equipment handling
  • Climbing

Driving Hazards

  • Fatigue
  • Speed
  • Lane change
  • Fog
  • Ice and snow
  • Cell phone use
  • Intersections
  • Railroad crossings
  • Rollovers
  • Backing
  • Space management
  • Road rage
  • Hazards from backing

Chemical Hazards

  • Material transported
  • Chemicals stored or used at the pick-up or delivery site

Physical Hazards

  • Elevated work
  • Electrical exposures
  • Asphyxiation
  • Falling objects
  • Noise
  • Fire or explosion

Lists like these can be used as the beginning of a formal checklist to survey driving activity. Develop the habit of collecting checklists so that you can design an inspection protocol that is appropriate for your company’s operation. Establish this custom protocol as your company’s procedure for surveying driving hazards.

You can add specific risks or hazards to this procedure as they are observed, suggested or identified by others in your organization. Develop the practice of observing and analyzing the work situation of your drivers for hazards that challenge them and for reasonable actions to prevent the potential resulting accident. Expect others in the organization to do the same.

Company information that is collected for other purposes should also be used to determine if hazards exist. For example:

  • Accident Data – The discovery of primary and underlying causes will identify hazards that challenge the fleet.
  • Analysis of time cards or DOT logs can highlight fatigue issues.
  • Dispatch reports – May indicate pick-up or delivery hazards. This is also where customer comments and driver suggestions often show-up.
  • Electronic data from satellite, in-cab computers or other engine monitoring devices. These reports can be reviewed for speed, stops, hard braking or fatigue problems.

Safer and Safestat DOT reports – DOT statistics that are off the norm or off the trend line can be indications that the fleet safety is at risk.
An organization should actively monitor itself for hazards during its daily functioning, when things are going ‘normally.’ Field feedback helps management gain a clear understanding of how things are happening as well as what hazards are challenging the driver. For carriers, several methods have proven successful in gathering hazard feedback. Successful carriers use more than one method of monitoring safety, just as the best golfers use different clubs to suit different situations.

Examples of ways to gather useful safety information include:

  • In-cab courtesy rides – ride-a-longs.
  • Peer observations – driver/driver or driver trainer/driver.
  • General public observations – toll-free numbers, with follow-up.
  • Customer observations – on and around customer sites.
  • Management representative observations, pre-departure and post-return.
  • Management representative observations in-route and at loading/unloading sites.
  • Ready line (vehicles considered serviceable and ready for dispatch) vehicle reviews.
  • Management/dispatch/driver one-on-one discussions.

Each organization must find the best blend of techniques for its operations and actively sample ongoing activity.

The procedures for collecting hazard information and methods for correcting or putting into place control mechanisms must be implemented to eventually eliminate hazards. Hazard identification and elimination can be the center point of an organization’s fleet safety program. The occurrence or recurrence of a hazard is a sign that a safety program (or at least the hazard control system) is not in place or that it has deteriorated.

While hazards should be corrected immediately, sometimes this is not possible. A target date with the indicated resources and responsible person for implementing the correction should be documented. Management should review and agree on this action plan and the associated priority for its completion. Timing and resources often influence the ability to implement a “fix”; however, the severity of the hazard should be the overriding consideration.

Provide training in the technical detail of hazard identification and elimination activity, including the equipment, facilities, tools, and products or materials being transported. The training should be designed based on the relative skill and background of the individuals involved, and any employee who might potentially identify hazards, including drivers, operators, mechanics, supervisors, dispatchers, and engineers, should be included. In short, everyone in the company should be trained to identify and expected to give feedback on hazard identification.

In summary, every fleet operation should have a process that systematically identifies hazards and sets priorities in designing corrective measures. The process should then continue with scheduling and following through with the correction until it is complete.

Frederick Clark has a BS degree in Chemistry and over 30 years of experience in the safety, health and environmental field. He has gained expertise in many aspects of personal and fleet safety and loss control management. He serves the fleet safety needs and distribution-related needs of clients by providing training, assessments, risk analyses, and other loss prevention programs.

XL Environmental • Risk Control Division • 520 Eagleview Boulevard, PO Box 636, Exton, PA 19341 • Phone: 800-327-1414 • Fax: 610-458-7285 • xlenvironmental.com

XL Environmental is a division of XL Specialty Insurance Company.

 
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