Ways to Emphasize and Obtain Fleet Safety

These reminder articles are from Automotive Fleet. They provide excellent material for conducting sweeping contractor safety meetings with your operators. Each of the articles can be accessed by clicking on the title of the article.

Rethinking Fleet Safety Changing the Traditional ‘Safety’ Mindset

The information for this article by Christian Lopez came from Brian Fielkow. For three decades, Brian Fielkow served as an executive with Recycle America Alliance (a division of Waste Management), The GTI Group, Jetco Delivery, and now Acrisure. key focus in these positions has always centered around safety.

The key headers/takeaways are the following:

• Safety as a Core Value

• Accidents Aren’t Minor

• Leaving ‘Blame Culture’

• Safety is a Way of Life

• Keep Data Actionable

• Compliance is Just the Beginning

Safety Pointers for Before You Get Behind the Wheel

This article is by Judie Nuskey.

“Safety starts before a driver puts his or her vehicle in motion. Remind your drivers to prepare both themselves and their vehicles before they take to the roadways. A few proactive steps can help fleet drivers stay safe in their travels, no matter what they encounter. Share these pointers with your team:” (Note that each of the topic areas is explained in detail.) The key headers/takeaways are the following:

• Do a Walk-Around

• Adjust Your Mirrors Properly

• Store All Items Securely

• Prepare Yourself for the Road

12 Truths About a No-Accident Fleet Safety Culture

This article by Martin Romjue also covers the ‘safety wisdom’ of Brian Fielkow. It provides an explanation for “12 Safety Culture Tips.” Fielkow says “While priorities shift and checklists change, and sometimes compete for each other, safety should stand solid no matter how an organization evolves, Fielkow said.” He calls the following 12 ways fleet managers can develop and instill a strong and consistent fleet safety culture:

Brian Fielkow opines that fleet managers should be ready to answer four key questions when sizing up their safety practices and overall approach: How strong is your safety culture? Is your team living and breathing safety? Are we really living our values? Are we truly providing safety leadership?

In the linked article, he provides several sentences for each of the topic areas. This makes the article excellent for contractor safety meetings. The key headers/takeaways are the following:

NO. 1: Safety at core.

NO. 2: What fleets call an accident is not an accident.

NO. 3: 99% is not good enough.

NO. 4: If you think safety is expensive, consider the cost of the opposite.

NO. 5: Safety extends beyond compliance.

NO. 6: Safety is leader driven and will not bubble up organically.

NO. 7: Safety is employee owned if it’s leader driven.

NO. 8: Move from a blame culture to a just culture.

NO. 9: Cultivate unconditional respect for process.

NO. 10: Dismiss severity.

NO. 11: Tear down the silos.

NO. 12: Overcome the fear of change.