Your SAFER score ranks your fleet’s safety and compliance, as well as your drivers’ safety and compliance, to help determine which fleets and drivers stay safe and maintain compliance on the road. These scores are publicly available and can be used to determine if a company should hire your fleet. From an internal standpoint, poor SAFER scores cost time and money — in additional repairs and avoidable accidents and violations.
While it’s not quick or easy to change your SAFER score, it can be done. Here’s what you need to do.
Use a High-Quality ELD
Your ELD needs to record accurate hours of service and transmit that data correctly. What you don’t want is lost data because you lost the signal or a glitch during a roadside inspection. Because HOS compliance is such an important component in SAFER scores, make sure your equipment is up to the task of correctly logging hours and transmitting information.
Make DVIRs Easy
You already know every driver should complete pre-trip and post-trip inspection reports (as required by federal law). But you also know some drivers try to breeze through inspections because they think it’s a hassle. Make DVIRs simple and something that will actually be used to maintain vehicles and equipment.
The Gorilla Safety eDVIR system makes communicating potential mechanical problems and repairs quick and easy, alerting the service department and allowing communication between driver and mechanic to get problems handled — before they’re found during an inspection or lead to a bad accident.
Monitor Driver Behavior
With the right ELD system, you’ve got a lot of data at your fingertips, including how your drivers behave behind the wheel. Aggressive driving, hard braking, speeding, and more create unnecessary and costly wear and tear on your vehicles. This behavior also leads to accidents out on the road or traffic violations.
Use your ELD to help create a driver scorecard. Train and/or penalize drivers who do not follow company policy behind the wheel. Incentivize the improvement of driver behavior and reward those who have great scores. Over time, this leads to fewer violations and other problems that impact your SAFER score.
Hire and Train Good Drivers
The most important aspect in your fleet’s SAFER score is who you hire. Your drivers are the ones behind the wheel, inspecting vehicles, and logging hours of service (HOS). Improving your score means hiring great drivers. Perform background checks, check a driver’s individual SAFER score, and be willing to pay more for great talent.
Once you’ve hired a driver, you’ve got to train them on your fleet’s standards and policies. Make safety part of the company culture. Require thorough DVIRs with every haul. Insist and enforce your fleet’s policies about aggressive driving, driving while ill, and other factors that impact SAFER scores.
Use the Right Tools
Make your job easier (and your drivers’ jobs easier) by using the right tools to reduce violations, keep your vehicles in good repair, and avoid problems on the road. Gorilla Safety offers multiple fleet management options designed to grow with your fleet and give you as much control as possible. From easy eDVIRs to document management so no one wonders what the fleet policy is, the right tool will help you improve your fleet’s SAFER score and make your job much easier.
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