For commercial workers, roads and jobsites couldn’t be more dangerous. In industries as diverse as agriculture and oil and gas, transportation incidents are the leading cause of death. And in construction, workers face transportation risks of their own, such as rollovers or getting struck by vehicles.
The most reputable businesses go to great lengths to protect workers, establishing a strong culture that puts safety at the heart of everything. Leaders know that when a safety mindset touches every individual in the business, other benefits follow — such as fewer accidents, safer teams, and a stronger bottom line.
In laying the foundation for a safety program, it’s important to get it right. Here’s how to ensure you’re incorporating the right cornerstones into your safety program for the safest possible results.
Cultivate a safety-first culture
Building a strong safety culture takes time, and it’s absolutely critical to safe performance. You can establish a safety-first culture by prioritizing safety at every level. To get your safety program off to a strong start, take the following steps.
Implement world-class hiring and training practices
The integrity of your safety culture rests on the integrity of your people, so hire the best candidates and train them extensively. Every reputable company has strong corporate values, so be sure to reflect these values in your hiring criteria.
Communicate safety policies effectively
In high-risk industries like construction, oil and gas, and trucking and logistics, timely communication can make the difference between life and death. Effective communication is an important attribute of a world-class safety culture, and it should be part of your program from the beginning.
With rapid advancements in technology, real-time communication between the home office and workers in the field has become the norm, helping physical economy workers prevent accidents and avert potential disasters. Automation and cloud-based software have done wonders to connect and protect workers on job sites, but in the realm of fleet safety, nothing has been as impactful as artificial intelligence (AI).
Evaluating and selecting the right technology solutions
AI is setting the pace in fleet safety, and businesses have to keep up. Those that put AI at the center of their safety programs will be the ones to set the standard. Today’s leaders simply cannot have a world-class safety program without it.
With so much at stake, physical economy businesses can’t afford to be backed by second-rate safety technologies. Leaders may not realize it, but unreliable safety technology is a serious liability. Some tools that claim to reduce road risk actually add to it.
To ensure you’re investing in the most reliable AI-powered solutions, choose AI that’s equipped to help you achieve your most important safety goals. Vet different solutions by taking the following actions.
The more reliable your AI detection, the better your safety technology will alert drivers to risk, prevent accidents, and protect drivers from harm. When it’s time to invest in a solution, distinguish second-rate AI-powered solutions from top-tier options by making the considerations below.
Selecting the right safety solution is just the beginning of safer performance. To learn all there is to know about getting a top-notch safety program up and running, download our Ultimate Guide: Building a world-class safety program.
