When you think of a dangerous job, what comes to mind?
Defense forces, firefighters and police may be at the top of your list, but what about drivers of heavy vehicles?
In Australia, around 80 workers are killed each year while working on or around a heavy vehicle on the road (Safe Work Australia Chair).
Speeding and fatigue play a large role in these deaths.
Therefore, having the right fleet management systems in place is essential to manage the safety of vehicles and drivers.
When heavy vehicles are involved in a crash, the severity of the crash is often much more severe because the mass of your vehicle raises the force of the crash involved.
Therefore, GPS tracking provides the transportation industry with effective solutions to manage drivers and the chain of responsibility to ensure safety on the road. That is how:
1. Security before a shift begins:
Mitigate risks with early detection Most GPS tracking solutions provide proper declarations of service and pre-departure checks that guide drivers through a set of customizable security criteria before beginning a shift.
If any issues are detected, an alert is immediately sent to a supervisor via email or SMS and the driver will not be able to start the shift before the issue is resolved.
2. Reduce speeding:
Speed is the main contributing factor to heavy vehicle accidents. Loaded trailers take 20-40% longer than cars to stop, even longer when roads are wet and slippery (Transport for NSW).
The only way to mitigate the risk of speeding is to keep an eye on drivers and prevent it from happening.
GPS tracking provides automated speed detection solutions in all speed zones, administrators can be alerted:
– When a driver is accelerating;
– When a driver is accelerating; and
– Why it happened.
With two-way communication managers, you can provide drivers with live feedback on their driving performance so they can make corrections in real time and increase safety on the road.
GPS tracking and fleet telematics provide safe driving solutions and reliable tools to detect speeding and identify causes, managers can implement safe driving policies and train drivers to avoid speeding.
3. Fatigue Management:
Driver fatigue is unstoppable. Affecting anyone, at any time. Unfortunately, no matter how experienced the driver, no amount of skill can overcome the biological need for sleep.
The truck driving industry negates the natural sleep pattern, with many long-distance drives lasting late into the night and into the morning. Therefore, effective fatigue management is crucial for the safety of HGV drivers.
GPS tracking provides chain of responsibility systems that have control measures to address fatigue, including electronic logbooks, automatic non-compliance alerts, and driving hours logging.
In general, GPS and fleet tracking telematics solutions provide smooth and efficient communication between managers and drivers; Instant information is received via mobile devices and an in-vehicle display unit so managers have an unprecedented level of insight into their operations.
Help your business grow and expand by maintaining a safe work environment, you’ll increase efficiency and most importantly ensure your drivers get home safe and sound.