Since implementing workplace traffic safety training, Texas Mutual has experienced a 61% decrease in preventable crashes. By comparison, Star Shuttle’s safety efforts rate at least one extra star. The San Antonio-based bus charter company cut preventable crashes by 80% in a comparison of first quarter data from 2017 to 2018.
At Frozen Food Express, a trucking company with headquarters in Lancaster, liability payouts decreased by 76% after the long-hauler committed to traffic safety in 2014. What do all of these Texas employers have in common? How did they produce such dramatic results?
All have worked with Our Driving Concern, an employer-focused transportation program that yields bottom-line results as well as employee and community safety benefits. I outline the Our Driving Concern model and mission in my report, “Employer Transportation Safety: On the Road to Zero.”
In addition, I share positive outcomes experienced by a number of other employers who have attended training sessions and used Our Driving Concern collateral materials to reduce travel risks. And I answer the question, “Why the workplace?”
In short, employers who embrace transportation safety can save on crash costs, sick leave, health care and fringe benefits. While doing so, they also can make an impact in their communities and build a reputation for caring for employees and their family members. You will hear testimony from Robert Wunderlich, director of the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Safety Institute.
“We all spend nearly half of our waking hours at work or traveling to work,” he says. “Employer-based outreach can make a big difference in reducing travel risk and improving safety. And it’s a win-win-win for the employer, the employee, and everybody else that travels.”
Think of it this way: If you provide forklift safety training or offer first aid as a part of your health and wellness program, then why not also make transportation safety a part of your organization’s culture?
Why not emulate the best practices of others? When you make transportation safety a priority, you put yourself and your team on path that can lead to great return on investment. No, it’s not a path, not really. It’s called the Road to Zero. Let us help you navigate that road.
– Lisa Robinson is a senior program manager at the National Safety Council