Which One Do You Have?

At the end of the year you should be evaluating your safety and loss control program to determine your performance over the year. Where do you stand compared to last year and the year before? Ongoing analysis programs are vital to a proactive and productive safety and loss control program. Companies should understand what their accident frequency rate is.

Accident frequency should be determined throughout the year no less than quarterly to determine trends and be proactive in controlling losses. Accident frequency rates can be calculated by multiplying the total number of accidents for a period by one million and then dividing by the total number miles for the same period. Accident frequency rate can be determined for DOT recordable, preventable recordable, non-preventable, by region, by fleet, driver supervisor, etc. However, accident frequency rates are just one piece of the overall safety analysis program that is in place to provide you with a sense of direction of where your program is going. Other areas of your internal analysis program should include, driver turnover frequency, DOT violation analysis (Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol, driver file), OSHA violations, on-board safety technologies, workers compensation injuries, etc. Another analysis tool that you should review monthly is your CSA SMS data provided to you by the FMCSA https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/ or http://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov

A sound Proactive safety and Loss control program will adequately address the following areas:

• Driver Selection
• Driver recruiting
• Carrier-based training
• Management-driver communications
• Driver safety-performance evaluation
• Safety incentives, Behavior-based safety
• On-board safety monitoring, cameras
• Telematics data
• Accident investigation
• Improved driver scheduling and dispatching
• Fatigue management
• Carrier-based medical programs
• Advanced safety technologies, Industry-based safety standards, and certification
• Preventive maintenance and vehicle inspection
• Drug and Alcohol testing results