Sr. Transportation Management Editor — J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.
Clear policies and procedures are a critical piece of your organization's safety program. Here are some things to consider when developing yours.
This article was originally published in 2021, and updated in 2024.
Written by:
Mark Schedler
Sr. Transportation Management Editor — J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.
Organizations demonstrate safety as a core organizational value and priority through clear policies and procedures that define both acceptable, safe behaviors and unacceptable, unsafe behaviors. This includes associated consequences.
Once you develop (or update) and communicate your policies and procedures, drivers and office employees will understand performance boundaries and know better how to drive improvement. Inconsistencies in following procedures are harmful to a carrier’s case should litigation arise.
While the specifics are up to you, focus on developing comprehensive safety policies and procedures that do the following:
Here are some elements you should consider when creating policies that deal with fleet telematics devices, such as dash cams and ELDs:
Make sure your written safety policies never become out of date or ineffectual. Policies and procedures are living documents and should reflect state and federal regulation changes, as well as correspond to your organization as it grows and moves forward. Periodically review, evaluate, and revise the policies and procedures. Consider these best practices:
After your policies and procedures are developed or updated, you should be able to answer “yes” to the following two questions:
If you can say yes to these two questions, you’ve done an excellent job embracing safety as a core value of your organization through your policies and procedures.
If you’re wondering how you can track policy and procedures training and documentation, J. J. Keller® Encompass can help. Built-in and customizable features help you stay on top of updating your policies and allow you to track related driver and employee training and communications. Talk with a fleet compliance specialist today for a no-obligation demo.
For more information on policy and procedure creation, download the Policies and Procedures for In-Cab Technology whitepaper. It’s free!
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