5 Essential Safety Tips for Equipment Operators

 

The importance of equipment safety

Fleet and equipment operation requires necessary safety measures and practices to ensure a heavy-duty company doesn’t add to the already-astounding estimated 34,900 accidents that occur yearly from forklifts alone. Keeping your operators safe is essential to the well-being of your company and its work environment and can always be improved.

 

According to this analysis from Wayne State University, “Construction jobs remain one of the most dangerous occupations in the American economy due to their variable, complex tasks and activities. Workers on construction sites often find themselves facing dangerous and life-threatening conditions.”

 

In this article, we will go over the 5 best tips for fleet management of all sizes, which will keep you and your operators healthy and work-ready.

 

 

1. Create a safe foundation with driving tips and training

 

Well-rounded driving safety tips are a great start for ensuring the safety of your equipment operators. It is very important to teach drivers company policies and safety tips and outline good driving habits to help with unexpected or unwanted problems.

 

Here, we will list a few tips that you may want to include in your training:

 

• Make sure you are well-rested before driving and avoid medications or drinks that may affect your driving (ex: potential caffeine crashes!)
• Never drive under the influence of any drug or alcohol. Severe company punishment will be made for offenders.
• Constant communication is expected between the company and the operator.
• Ensure you are always using a seat belt.
• Avoid distractions while driving to prevent any road accidents. For example, try not to talk on the phone or eat while navigating.
• Use the shortest routes for all trucks and equipment, so route planning may be required!

 

Promote safer equipment driving by establishing a well-rounded guideline and making it easily accessible to make sure drivers clearly understand what is and isn’t considered safe in the workplace (or on the road).

 

2. Provide operators with well-maintained vehicles

 

Before operators can be trained with your safety guidelines, we need to make sure the vehicle that you are providing them is maintained in a preventative manner. There are several ways to go about this, but making sure their equipment is running smoothly and efficiently will put your drivers at less of a risk. One of the best ways to do this is with preventative maintenance technology.

 

Partnering with third-party businesses that monitor engines, tires, breaks, or other important aspects of your fleet are very beneficial to the uptime of your fleet. Along with this, ensuring your equipment is properly maintained will decrease the chances of mechanical breakdowns that could result in accidents.

 

If technological solutions are not viable, we suggest implementing a maintenance schedule or checklists that can be completed pre-trip. Keeping your fleet in perfect working order is crucial to staying safe, so flag any overhead or underground dangers before and after trips.

 

 

3. Weather! Weather! Weather!

 

Driving accidents can only be prevented with so many measures before they are affected by uncontrollable mother nature. Be aware of the forecasted weather of your worksite and provide safety tips that could help with snow and ice, rainstorms and flooding, or high winds.

 

Whether the winter storms of December or high tropical storm winds of July are too dangerous for operation, make sure drivers are informed and project dates are pushed back accordingly. No project deadline is worth the life of a worker or equipment operator.

 

4. Engage drivers with rewards and safety encouragement

 

Worker incentive and encouragement is always beneficial to a company. In this case, in relation to operation safety, we suggest creating a reward system for drivers of low risk or those that don’t get any of that nasty road rage!

 

For those that may feel like they are micromanaged through company policies, this is great for ease of mind. Compliance with rules and regulations is important to the safety and efficiency of drivers – so encourage them to do so.

 

Don’t forget to keep the discussion going! Focusing on safety on a regular basis will make it super easy to ensure workplace safety, especially if everyone works with one another and gives their own input.

 

 

5. Accommodate driver’s physical or emotional limits

 

The last tip we have here might be the most important of the 5, which is to be aware of and accommodate for any limitations brought forth by a driver’s physical or emotional state. In the trucking industry, for example, drowsiness is a major risk factor for driving – therefore it is important to encourage operators to use rest stops when needed. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, there is an estimated 328,000 accidents every year on the road – so let’s try to prevent this from happening with our companies.

 

Everyone is different when it comes to physical and emotional capabilities, especially between different age groups or experience levels. Allowing workers to express their concerns and providing help without judgment is crucial to those that are stressed or distracted on the job. Make sure they have avenues to ask for instructions or request a more experienced worker to complete a part of the job – and you will create a positive, productive work environment that is critical for avoiding workplace incidents.

 

Someone who is physically or emotionally impaired can become more prone to accidents. Giving opportunities to help improve their condition will certainly improve both your company’s overall safety measures as well as create long-lasting employee relationships.

 

REMEMBER: Safety is CRUCIAL!

 

Once again, operator safety is vital for top fleets and businesses and is an ever-improving practice for fleet owners and managers. Accidents and lawsuits can be expensive, so solidifying a safe work environment is crucial to both your workers’ health and business profits.

 

Finalize your safety protocols and make sure they are well-rounded to account for both younger and older workers with few to many years of experience. Introduce these measures upon hiring new drivers, and continue to go over them regularly!

 

When it comes to creating beneficial safety measures for equipment, you may want to look at the Senzit sensor which can help with monitoring your equipment digitally – saving you time and money while reducing downtime.

 

Check out the Senzit predictive maintenance platform and its wide variety of features.