Efficiency, safety, and driver satisfaction are all important to the success of a business. Well-executed efficiency efforts within your trucking fleet can be used to improve safety and employee well-being. This, in turn, can lead to higher driver satisfaction.
Improved efficiency, and as a result, improved safety and employee well-being, can help employers to save money through a reduction in the costs associated with delayed deliveries, accidents, miscommunication, and overworked employees.
Reduced Accident Risk
While there is no way to completely avoid accidents, efficiency efforts can reduce the risk of accidents on the job. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are several ways to reduce accident risk while truck driving, such as maintaining awareness of long stopping distances and wide turns.
Truck drivers and office staff can both use efficiency efforts to further reduce accident risk, including:
- A clean and orderly workplace: Truck cabs, repair stations, and office spaces should all be kept clean and orderly.
- A safety standard: Setting and maintaining safety standards, with the help of technology, can create a consistently safe work environment for truck drivers. These safety standards can include procedures for securing trailers and training for drivers transporting hazardous waste.
- Routine vehicle inspections: Inspections reduce accident risk while also proactively reducing the amount of time spent repairing trucks.
- Regular communication: Communication between truck drivers, dispatchers, and management staff is important for risk management. This helps to keep all parties informed about issues that can impact truck driver safety such as traffic and weather conditions.
By focusing on these efforts, companies can create a safer work environment for drivers with reduced accident risk while also increasing efficiency.
Smaller Workloads
By reducing employee workloads, an employer can improve productivity and employee well-being. According to the American Institute of Stress, an excessive workload is one of the biggest causes of stress in the workplace. This stress can lead to burnout and fatigue, which affects productivity and time management.
Organization-wide efficiency efforts can reduce day-to-day workloads for employees. These efforts include:
- Automation: When possible, employers can automate repetitive tasks using technology to reduce workload. This frees up time for more important projects and employee wellness.
- Project management software: Truck drivers and office staff can use these programs to help with the delegation of tasks, deadline reminders, and team collaboration.
- Employee support and work habits: Supporting your employees and encouraging healthy work habits can help to reduce their overall workload. Setting reasonable deadlines and helping employees to avoid multitasking are two ways to reduce employees’ work stress.
Smaller workloads can reduce the risk of employee burnout and employee wellness.
Easier Communication
For truck drivers, efficient communication can make work easier and safer. Truckers need to effectively communicate with other drivers about road conditions, wildlife sightings, and brake checks. Awareness of these events happening on the road help drivers stay safe and keeps them aware of possible risks.
Some specific ways that communication can improve a driver’s work performance and safety include:
- Safety inspections: Driver safety inspection results should be regularly communicated to and reviewed by management staff.
- Rest stops: Scheduling rest stops for drivers is important for trucking. These stops improve driver wellness and reduce the risk of accidents. Clear communication about these stops can help drivers while out on the road.
- Inclement weather: Weather and road conditions are constantly changing. Office and management staff can keep drivers informed about conditions in their area to reduce driving time, improve fuel usage, and increase driver safety.
- Traffic updates: Traffic, especially when driving near big cities, can cause delays in delivery schedules. Communicating these traffic updates to drivers and possible route changes can help limit these delays.
Through communication, drivers can save time and money on the road while also increasing their safety and well-being.
Using Technology to Support Employee Safety and Efficiency
One way to support efficiency efforts and employee safety simultaneously is to utilize technology in the workplace.
One example of using technology in this way is using a virtual driver coach. Drivers will have a screen that provides suggestions and insights as they drive and evaluates driver decisions and safety. Real-time driver coaching provides benefits for both drivers and employers, including:
- Energy efficiency: Real-time driver coaching can provide visual cues for drivers that improve fuel usage and energy efficiency by up to 15 percent.
- Improved safety: The scores given to drivers incentivize safer driving practices.
- Fair incentive programs: Drivers can be evaluated by virtual tools that don’t penalize them for situations that were beyond their control.
In-cab technology can help drivers to be proactive in how they manage risks. This technology can also increase cooperation between drivers and management staff.
Electronic Logging Devices
Electronic logging devices (ELDs) can improve the efficiency of operations and make work easier for drivers.
These devices can simplify and facilitate a variety of daily tasks for drivers, including:
- Vehicle inspections;
- Logbook entries;
- Document management;
- Communication with dispatch.
By using a device that creates a central hub of activity for all of these tasks, drivers can work more efficiently and reduce their day-to-day stress.
Telematics
Fleet telematics is a helpful tool for improving efficiency while also promoting increased driver safety and well-being.
Telematics systems provide a variety of benefits for employers, including:
- Centralized fleet management: Telematics provides information about the location of every truck in the fleet. It can also display this information in a centralized location for fleet managers.
- Communication tools: These systems can provide consistent cellular service and Wi-Fi for drivers to use while on the road.
- Dashcam footage: Dashcam footage can protect drivers and employers in the event of a lawsuit or encounter with law enforcement.
Each of these tools helps employers to improve the efficiency of their fleet while also providing improved safety and well-being for drivers.
Communication
According to The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, communication is important for creating an open and transparent company culture that improves employee engagement. Effective communication helps employers to create an environment that prioritizes safety and employee satisfaction.
Towards this goal of improving communication, employers can utilize technology. For example, tools such as ELDs and fleet telematics systems offer communication gateways. These gateways communicate fleet data to dispatchers and management staff. They also provide cellular service and Wi-Fi for drivers to more easily communicate, manage their routes, and improve overall safety and efficiency.
Safety and Compliance Monitoring
Technology is providing new and innovative ways for employers to increase the safety, efficiency, and compliance of their drivers.
Safety and compliance monitoring provides several benefits for employers and drivers:
- Driver video footage provides protection in potential court cases.
- Software can track speeding and unsafe braking practices. By identifying these risky behaviors, employers can improve employee training to reduce accidents.
- Timely reports on driver practices and vehicle performance can be used by management to provide incentives and further training when needed.
Compliance monitoring can be used to create performance-based incentive programs for drivers that can support driver retention. These incentive programs offer rewards for drivers who improve their driving practices to increase safety and productivity.
Efficiency efforts are meant to improve the amount of time it takes for work to be completed, but these efforts can have widespread benefits for employees and employers. By communicating and utilizing technology, employers can help to increase the safety and wellness of the truck drivers in their fleet.
