More Best Insurance Practices:
#60 Elevate Your Company’s Safety Ethos
#61 Review your Driver/Operator Manuals for Compliance and Accuracy
#62 Institute a Written Safety Incentive Program?
#63 Don’t Forget the Basics . . .
#64 Lagging vs Leading Indicators: Are you measuring Success or Failure?
2021 Insurance Saving Tip #60
Elevate Your Company’s Safety Ethos
What is Safety Ethos?
Why is our company’s safety ethos important?
How can we elevate our safety ethos?
⦁ Ethos is defined by Merriam-Webster.com dictionary as “the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution.”
⦁ Webster’s goes on to say, “Ethos means “custom” or “character” in Greek. Today ethos is used to refer to the practices or values that distinguish one person, organization, or society from others.”
⦁ “Formal : the guiding beliefs of a person, group, or organization.”
⦁ Your company or organization has an ethos. Call it street cred, public perception, reputation, or whatever.
⦁ Your ethos, essentially, is based on what employees, customers, suppliers, partners, and others believe about your organization and who you really are all about.
⦁ Why should we care about our safety ethos?
Inaccurate, but public, social media reviews might form part of that ethos.
Here are some online reviews of one company:
“Nothing but liars.”
“The company is trash.”
“Terrible people to work for.”
Publicly available government compliance reporting can form part of that ethos.
Typical sites can include:
You want your company to be the best. The employer of choice. The supplier of choice.
But mistakes can occur . . . even to the best. In the event of litigation, the facts may well be in your favor, but many times the outcome is determined by what a jury believes they “know” about your company and how you do business. Your ethos.
Based on a jury’s perception of your ethos, there may be an effort made by the plaintiff’s attorney to extract not only damages, but also punitive damages . . . damages not covered by insurance.
“The best defense is an offense.” George Washington
The same is true of your safety ethos.
A strong organizational ethos will result in attracting the customers you want to serve, and the employees and suppliers you want to work with.
And while your insurance company has a duty and obligation to defend you in court, there is only so much it can do, if you have not done the right spadework to shape and guard your ethos.
How can we elevate our safety ethos?
Some actions leading down the path to a better safety ethos include:
⦁ Become a more people-centered organization. Put people first in whatever you do. Don’t play the name, shame, and blame game.
⦁ Become more proactive in safety initiatives
⦁ Adopt more forward-looking safety metrics. For example, our previous best practice (#59) was about encouraging your workforce to make their safety concerns and suggestions known. These can be, for example, tracked and compared against safety warnings. The goal would be to have more safety concerns and suggestions made known than safety warnings made.
⦁ Network more: build a caring community. Get more involved.
⦁ Adopt a safety-ethos mindset. Simply being more mindful of the big picture can be a big step towards a better safety ethos and company ethos
2021 Insurance Saving Tip #61
Review your Driver/Operator Manuals for Compliance and Accuracy
⦁ Your Driver/Operator Manuals can become an effective communication tool for both the company and workforce.
⦁ But any good tool, to remain effective, needs occasional maintenance and even updating.
⦁ Some insurance companies will ask for your Driver/Operator Manuals as part of the loss-control review.
⦁ It’s best to consider your Driver/Operator Manuals as legal documents, that may be cited in future hearings or even litigation.
General Driver/Operator Manual construction:
⦁ Any written document needs to be both accessible and readable. That could mean, in the case of your employee manuals, having both electronic and hard copies available, a table of contents and a simple index.
⦁ In this age of rapid changes, the ability to make revisions when needed is important. Having a master document template, which is revised as needed, can be helpful.
⦁ Keep it at a “brain-friendly” level of communication. (See Tip 53)
⦁ For example, Brian Fielkow, a Safety Evangelist and CEO of Jetco Delivery, recommends having your employees help write the manual for better readability and understandability. He put representative members of his organization in a room with a writer to produce his manual.
⦁ Having frontline employees help make and write the rules under which they will work, is an example of taking advantage of the “commitment effect.” Fielkow is proud of his much lower-than-industry-average driver turnover at his trucking company.
Specific areas to cover in your driver manual might include (among others):
⦁ Be sure to have a general safety policy, stating the expectation that all employees will work in a safe manner, follow all safety standards and all local, state and federal rules and regulations, signed by management.
⦁ Laws and court holdings are frequently revised saying who can be an independent contractor (I/C) or owner-operator (O/O). If your enterprise employs I/Cs or O/Os, it would be prudent to make that distinction by having a separate manual for your driver/operator employers and another manual for your I/Cs or O/Os.
⦁ Have a section on how employee concerns about safety issues can be communicated to supervisors and management, and how these concerns will be followed up.
On a side note, OSHA oversees driver Whistleblower Protection. Not acknowledging driver or operator safety concerns or terminating a driver for refusing to drive a vehicle believed to have safety issues, can result in steep OSHA fines and the payment of back pay for any time off. Become familiar with these OSHA provisions.
⦁ Finally, from time to time, be sure to have a transportation attorney review your Driver/Operator Manuals. It is challenging for anyone in business these days, without good outside help, to keep up with the array of changes in laws, rules and regulations that govern the workplace, and what should or should not be included in any employee handbooks or manuals.
Periodic legal reviews will help to keep your manuals from later being used against you. They can continue to be an asset to the organization, not a potential costly liability.
Resources:
1.) Brian Fielkow
2.) Kaitlin Gibson, VP Underwriting of fintech truck insurer Cover Whale Insurance Solutions Inc., put together a short guideline of some things they would expect in any driver manual.
2021 Insurance Saving Tip #62
Institute a Written Safety Incentive Program?
⦁ Why have a Written Safety Incentive Program?
⦁ What doesn’t work well in safety incentives?
⦁ What questions should be asked in setting up a safety incentive program?
⦁ Final Considerations
⦁ Some economists say many shortages can be traced to government interventions in the marketplace. A real shortage has occurred in the hiring of both drivers and mechanics. And with current national policies, it’s not getting any better.
⦁ Data shows driver apps have fallen about 15% from a year ago, according to Recruiting Consultant Marilyn Surber of Tenstreet.com. Surber recommends all companies need to adjust to this new reality by closely looking at the benefits they offer and differentiating themselves by strong safety protocols. Sound advice. One component might be a written safety incentive program.
What doesn’t work well in safety incentives?
⦁ Most important of all, a written safety incentive program is not a stand-alone safety program in of itself. Incentive programs should be a part of your overall formal safety program—not a proxy.
⦁ Secondly, choose incentives carefully so they are motivating, not demotivating. Motivating type incentives may vary, as people are different.
So, what doesn’t work well?
Some incentives to avoid might include:
⦁ Incentives which will result in a decrease of reporting (lagging indicators) of incidents or accidents.
⦁ Pooling the “safe employees” for an annual grand prize drawing (like a motorcycle), which results in only one or a few winners.
⦁ Deducting amounts for performance from a pre-set cash incentive.
⦁ Deducting “points” which can be earned back, as employees may feel they cannot control when or how things occur.
Some incentives to avoid might include:
⦁ Incentives which will result in a decrease of reporting (lagging indicators) of incidents or accidents.
⦁ Pooling the “safe employees” for an annual grand prize drawing (like a motorcycle), which results in only one or a few winners.
⦁ Deducting amounts for performance from a pre-set cash incentive.
⦁ Deducting “points” which can be earned back, as employees may feel they cannot control when or how things occur.
Common questions in setting up a safety incentive program:
⦁ What are your goals and expectations?
⦁ Will it help raise awareness of safety issues?
⦁ Will it reinforce your formal safety program?
⦁ Will it improve safety by reducing losses?
⦁ Who will be eligible for the safety incentives?
⦁ Will the incentives be tied to a driver scorecard or onboard driver performance monitoring platforms? Will clean Roadside Inspections be included?
What type of incentives will you offer?
⦁ Certificates or letters of achievement (Monthly, quarterly, annually?)
⦁ Gift cards or cash bonuses
⦁ Wall Plaques
⦁ Paid time off
⦁ Company apparel, etc.
Who will be the program coordinator, to monitor and gauge the effectiveness (outcomes) of the program?
How will management show recognition for those who have earned the incentives?
⦁ Meetings
⦁ Bulletin Board
⦁ Newsletters / Direct communication
How will management kick-off and build up excitement for the program?1
How will employees know where they stand, at any given time?
Some final considerations in offering safety incentives:
⦁ Tilt the scales more toward the receiving of recognition in meeting expectations and goals, rather than in getting tangible things.
⦁ Top management involvement is crucial, from the get-go.
⦁ Keep drivers and operators, mechanics, etc., involved in the process, too.
⦁ Carefully consider the program’s goals, metrics, and incentives.
Perhaps run a pilot program with a control group and measure the results.
Safety behaviors to be awarded should include:
⦁ Attending safety training
⦁ Making safety suggestions
⦁ Completing vehicle inspections and pre-operational checks
⦁ Participation in driver and/or safety committees
Finally, don’t feel pressured by your insurance company or safety consultant to start a safety incentive program.
⦁ ROI of incentive programs can be low: In some situations, costs may outweigh the benefits
⦁ A strong commitment to safety, involving employees in the safety process—allowing them to set safety goals—and having a high set of safety standards may result in better outcomes, with or without a safety incentive program according to some safety experts.
If your insurance company makes this suggestion, be sure to ask them for a proven working model to follow.
2021 Insurance Saving Tip #63
Don’t Forget the Basics . . .
“Common things happen commonly.” —Anon.
⦁ We will look at three examples, all involving violation of basic safety rules, all resulting in severe safety events . . .
⦁ Example 1: A supervisor told the driver to leave the keys in the tractor. It was then stolen from the lot where it was parked. The thief drove it erratically before striking a family car, and seriously injuring a child. The tractor was abandoned, and the suspect remains at large.
⦁ Basic Rule violated: Always remove the key from the ignition and secure the vehicle.
⦁ Settlement Amount: $7 million
⦁ Example 2: A forklift entered a trailer, resulting in a forward movement of the tractor-trailer. The forklift dropped four feet to the ground injuring and incapacitating the driver.
⦁ Rule violated: Always set the brakes and chock the wheels when docking.
⦁ Settlement Amount: $4,825,000
⦁ Example 3: A driver of a tractor trailer was operating a tractor trailer on cruise-control at 58 MPH when the unit lost control, slid on ice, resulting in a jackknife blocking the left lane and part of the right lane. The driver left the vehicle but did not activate the emergency flashers or set out reflective triangles. In the ensuing pileup, four people were fatally injured, and multiple vehicles destroyed.
⦁ Rules violated: Using cruise-control in slippery conditions; Not activating warning devices to warn other motorists of the vehicle across the lanes.
⦁ Settlement Amount: $16.5 Million
⦁ In these three examples, violations of simple, basic, fundamental safety rules resulted in severe injuries, death and destruction.
⦁ In these examples, the vehicles were not in motion, when the driver error(s) occurred, yet all resulted in serious accidents, with corresponding liability for the companies owning the trucks.
How can these situations be avoided?
Start your season right . . .
Vince Lombardi is considered one of the greatest football coaches of all-time winning five NFL Championships in seven years, including three in a row.
Lombardi would start each season based the assumption his players had forgotten everything from the prior year.
Lombardi would start his first training session by holding up a football in his right hand, saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”
⦁ This concept of starting with the basics can be carried over to your driver and operator training.
⦁ One best practice is to assess drivers and operators on the basics, then, if necessary, provide gap training. This assessment can occur during orientation, safety meetings, etc.
⦁ Driver and operators need to become knowledgeable on your safety policies and the rules of the road. Not everybody with a CDL has attended formal training before taking the CDL road test. Some states issue driver’s licenses to adults without any kind of formal training.
⦁ Reinforce your training. Training in the basics can be followed up with a later assessment, then reviewed again, at another time.
⦁ Drivers and operators need to know all the basics of regulatory rules and requirements they operate under. This might include (among others): inspections, chaining rules in winter, hours of service rules, using ELDs, drug testing requirements, proper load securement, operating in adverse weather, and so on.
⦁ Training on the basics should be continuous and periodic throughout your drivers’ and operators’ tenure at your company.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” —Vince Lombardi
“Winning is not a sometime thing. It’s an all the time thing.
You don’t win once in a while.
You don’t do things right, once in a while.
You do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” —Vince Lombardi
2021 Insurance Saving Tip #64
Lagging vs Leading Indicators: Are you measuring Success or Failure?
Early warning systems are necessary to indicate when safety performance is deteriorating, safeguards are failing, or to reveal problems before a safety event or incident occurs.
An indicator is a measure of change over time. It may also be called an index or a measure or metric.
For example, accidents, collisions, incidents, “near misses,” etc., can be, with proper analysis, lagging indicators or measures of past performance.
There is no need, however, to wait for an accident, collision or some other events to measure safety. Leading indicators can be forward-looking measures of future safety performance.
For example, in working with data you already have, some lagging indicators, such as a series of collisions or “close calls,” if they occur repetitively or together in certain combinations, can also serve as leading indicators.
OSHA, for example, defines leading indicators as: “proactive, preventive, and predictive measures that provide information about the effective performance of your safety and health activities.”
Examples of leading indicators might include the tracking of: attendance at safety meetings or training; the completion of inspections or pre-operational checks; the reporting of safety faults or defects; the making of safety suggestions, and so on.
In selecting a leading indicator, start with an objective, problem, target or goal. The measurement provided by a safety metric is not about proving something; it is about improving. It is a means of measuring progress towards (or away from negative) goals.
An example could be improved roadside inspections.
Setting some goals for Roadside Inspections
Roadside inspections are costly in lost productivity and fines, but failed inspections can result in a higher CSA “points.”
• Drivers with clean roadside inspections – Goal: 90%
• Total aggregate CSA points for the fleet per month–Goal: X points
• CSA points per BASIC* per month – Goal: X points
*Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Category
What data should you collect for a leading indicator to improve roadside inspections?
Some choices might include:
•Time spent on pre-trips/post-trips: Are they be done correctly?
•Quality of pre-trips/post-trips: Have any cited defects been reported by the driver? Are the defects found on roadside inspections a driver-side issue, or perhaps a repair-shop issue?
Next, from time-to-time measure the progress made toward your goal and take appropriate action if you are not meeting it.
For example, driver time spent on pre-trips could be reviewed weekly, and roadside inspection results reviewed monthly.
The last step could be a periodic review of your objective, problem, target or goal, and your leading indicator. Are you meeting your goal(s)? Is the leading indicator serving your goal(s)? Should anything be further adjusted or changed?
The long-term rewards of managing safety performance with indicators are:
⦁ Improvements in safety performance and turnover
⦁ Less potential for litigation and loss of control
⦁ Fewer compliance and regulatory issues
⦁ A systematic risk management approach
⦁ Lower workman compensation insurance
⦁ Lower insurance fleet premiums ■
“One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.” —Grace Hopper
“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.” —John Foster Dulles
References:
OSHA’s Using Leading Indicators to Improve Safety and Health Outcomes ■