An effective fleet safety program must be comprehensive, up-to-date, and instituted as a part of your company’s safety culture. It should be thorough, reaching each employee who gets behind the wheel. And the commitment has to start at the top.

1. Identify all of your drivers. Businesses may not be aware of the full extent of their non-owned vehicle exposure. You should identify everyone who drives on behalf of your business, even those employees that use personal and/or rented vehicles.
2. Leadership support from all levels of management will help assure that the program is used and will succeed.
3. Screen and select your drivers carefully. This can help create a reliable and safe team. Without safe drivers, no organization is likely to have a good long-term safety record. Establish clear hiring standards and a thorough screening process for anyone who drives on company business.
4. Train and manage your drivers on a regular on-going basis. This is essential in helping to ensure that drivers are following fleet safety rules and driving safely. All drivers should have access to information on safe driving strategies and techniques, including instruction in defensive driving.
5. Manage crashes when they occur. This will help mitigate costs and help you to understand your exposures and can reduce the potential for future losses.
6. Establish written policies and procedures and formalize a plan for vehicle inspection, repair, and maintenance. This can help reduce costly, unexpected breakdowns, and can assist in avoiding crashes due to faulty equipment.

At Pacific Driver Education, we take advantage of our driving risk expertise and extensive experience to help our customers design their fleet safety programs and help protect what is important to their business. Effective fleet safety programs must be comprehensive, up-to-date and an integral part of your company's safety culture.