3 ways to improve your fleet’s compliance

For fleet compliance, you should have safety management policies, people and procedures in place to clarify:

• How your organization uses the road (who is driving, what vehicles are used, the journeys undertaken by drivers and how they drive on the road);
• the risk it creates;
• the potential consequences of those risks, and
• the measures needed to manage and reduce these risks and consequences.

Fleet management is a practical way of achieving this. The technology gathers accurate information about your vehicles and drivers, analyzes driving behavior to identify strengths and weaknesses, and creates personalized feedback for individual drivers.

HSE requires that staff are fit and competent to drive safely. Telematics identifies driver training and education needs to fit this requirement. Furthermore, it assists in incentivizing drivers to improve their driving, reduces crash rates and risky driving, and improves accident investigations.

The safer driving behaviors that come from implementing telematics has the added benefit of complying with the environmental aspect of HSE. Better driving equals decreased fuel consumption and that, in turn, leads to fewer carbon emissions and cleaner air for all road users.

Another requirement of HSE is to have vehicles that are fit for their intended purpose and in a safe condition. A fleet management solution assists with keeping maintenance schedules up to date without sacrificing fleet utilization.

Make sure that that your drivers are trained appropriately and are in vehicles that are keeping them safe by using the right fleet management solution.

Up until recently, paper was the go-to medium for logging driving hours. Electronic logging devices are superior for many reasons: 

• Electronic logs eliminate human interference, which improves accuracy;
• Electronic logging devices (ELDs) don’t forget to log on-duty or non-driving time – this is done automatically;
• When using ELDs, drivers do not have to waste time filling out forms or wait for approval before going on to their next job, and
• Paycheck information is more accurate, making processing much faster.

The HOS rule is not only a way to keep an accurate electronic record of working hours but, more importantly, it assists in fatigue management to prevent the 20% of accidents caused by drowsy drivers. This is accomplished by limiting the amount of driving hours per day and the number of driving and working hours per week. Drivers are required to take a minimum period of rest and are kept on a 21- to 24-hour schedule to maintain a natural sleep/wake cycle.

Fatigued drivers contribute to thousands of crashes every year. Fatigue causes a decrease in decision-making and processing abilities, which means that these drivers cannot respond in time to perform critical driving tasks (such as stopping at a red light or turning the wheel to avoid an obstacle). This can lead to serious injury, death and property damage. So, not only does fatigue negatively impact the safety of your fleet, but also your bottom line.

Hours of Service solutions have specialized features that can help you achieve fleet compliance, wherever you are in the world. Since the process is largely automated, there is less pressure on you and your drivers. 

These solutions provide an electronic toolkit for compliance with:

• Hours of Service (HOS) in the U.S.: ELDs allow drivers to accurately log their driving hours electronically and fleet managers to easily transfer important data. Devices are also tamper-proof, FMCSA-approved and prevent driver harassment.
• International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) in the U.S.: As your drivers travel, a telematics solution will track vehicle mileage, distances traveled, location details and fuel consumption that you can use in your fuel tax reports. All of the information is in one place so it’s easy to access and analyze.
• Remote DTCO download in Europe: A digital tachograph download device can work in combination with a telematics solution to monitor drivers’ on-duty driving time against European driving hours regulation and the management of data files.
• Electronic Work Diaries (EWD) in Australia: In an effort to encourage more stringent fatigue management, Australian laws now require historic views, reports and alerts of drivers’ fatigue statuses through the use of EWDs. Telematics solutions comply with these EWD regulations by electronically capturing and reporting on driving hours with accurate time stamps and location details.