There are plenty of people who can drive a vehicle but that doesn’t mean to say that they would be suitable candidates for filling a position as one of your fleet team.
If you are going to have the best chance of running a safe fleet and representing your business in the best possible way on the road you will be looking for drivers who are responsible and exhibit good judgment, along with a number of other key attributes.
Here is a look at some strategies for sorting out the wheat from the chaff and finding the most competent and suitable drivers for your business, including an overview of why it matters to be so selective with your recruitment process, how to check a candidate’s suitability, plus tips on how to continue working together to promote safe driving.
Good for business
There are a number of very positive reasons why good drivers are good for business.
If you are running a fleet of vehicles and sending employees out on the road every day as representatives of your company as well as completing a specific task, such as delivering your products, those drivers can influence your business in a variety of ways.
The decisions they make while driving and the diligence they display can make a big difference to the bottom line, as fleet vehicle accidents count as one of the most costly aspects of injury claims and financial loss.
Safe Fleet drivers can help minimize the impact of financial loss due to accidents, if they are conscientious about their driving record and are mindful of the image of your business, that they are representing when they are behind the wheel.
Knowing what to do immediately after an auto accident injury and how to handle this situation all comes down to training and a willingness to learn how to become a safer driver and how to continue working at improving standards.
If you can find drivers that share that outlook it can be good for your business all round.
Finding the right driver
Finding the right candidate to fill a driving position for your business and become part of your fleet is often a basic process of identifying and checking their qualifications as well as their track record when it comes to driving.
Every driver with a license has a driving history that you can check and a good starting point in your selection process would be to check their motor vehicle record (MVR) and see whether their record of safety and lack of motoring violations matches up with what you want to see.
Ongoing evaluation
You can’t be with your drivers all the time when they are on the road, although you can now use technology to monitor their driving performance and see how safely they are operating the vehicle and whether they observe speed limits.
It’s a good idea to continue to monitor a driver’s performance on a regular basis and check the data supplied via a fitted tracking device for any evidence of speeding, hard braking, and cornering, or aggressive acceleration.
Review driving performance with each driver, it gives you the opportunity to have a positive discussion about any changes that might need to be made to make them safer and even improve fuel consumption figures.
Contribute to their safety
Running a fleet is a team effort and even if you have one of the best drivers you can find in your vehicle, they still need help from the business to keep them safe.
This means creating work schedules and policies that reflect current safety regulations and recognize the consequence of driver fatigue.
If you monitor their hours and educate drivers on the signs of driver fatigue and the importance of regular breaks this should help to reduce the prospect of an accident.
A healthy workforce
Another good sign when you are recruiting a suitable driver for your business is when you find someone who is in good health and demonstrates a commitment to keeping it that way.
If your business can promote the importance of lifestyle choices that can impact their driving such as smoking and drinking, this would be good for the health of drivers as well as a positive scenario for the business.
There are minimum health requirements set out by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for commercial drivers.
However, you want to aim to go beyond those standards with any drivers you employ, especially when you consider that they are representing your business while they are on the road.
Lucy Parker works as a business consultant. Always looking for the latest news, trends and tips, she loves to share them by posting on small business blogs.