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Driver Policies
As vehicle operations create a substantial risk for any organization, a strong policy on driver safety, employee performance, and accountability is essential. Your organization’s policy should address driver abstracts, clear expectations when operating organization vehicles, and guidelines for deciding who can and cannot operate the vehicles.
In developing your policy, make sure to include standards on how vehicles are operated and maintained. This should outline pre-trip inspections, driving habits, accident reporting, cleanliness of the vehicles, and any other topics you deem important.
Organizations that evaluate their driver’s abstracts should develop policies regarding obtaining, evaluating, applying, and documenting procedures. Your policy should include expectations of drivers and the consequences for not meeting those expectations.
If a driver’s record is not acceptable, make it clear to them their current position depends on their record being cleaned up. This is not to punish them, but to convey the importance of a safe driving record.
Drivers with a history of collisions or moving violations are likely to continue with similar behaviour unless it is addressed; evaluating driver abstracts can help in identifying and addressing such behaviour before it leads to an accident or injury. Note that this practice is not to be used to reject potential employees who do not meet a minimum standard.
Your policy should note that it is the driver’s responsibility to inform your organization of any changes to the status of their licence so appropriate changes can be made if there needs to be a change in drivers.
In the event of a licence suspension or other situation where an employee can no longer operate the organization’s vehicles, having strict but easy-to-follow guidelines will allow both human resources and management to make decisions on the employee’s position. These guidelines can also set out how the situation can be resolved.
A comprehensive and straightforward policy will help your organization operate more efficiently and will help reduce the risk of a collision or injury in the future. If needed, we can help develop a policy that is tailored to your organization’s needs.
For any questions or more information please contact our risk management team!