Taking steps to mitigate risks involved in your fleet business is, without a doubt, your top priority, isn’t it? If not, then you should reevaluate your strategy. And that’s because risks involved in fleet businesses may cause a temporary turmoil, as they would in any business. Knowing how to protect your fleet business from risks may define your future and viability.
Knowing how to protect your fleet business from risks
Identifying and managing risks is a fundamental activity, for any business. But, for fleet businesses, there is a critical factor that jeopardizes not only a company’s interests, but employee safety and well-being, as well. What’s that? Well, the key point here is that your workplace is not confined within your offices. Your workplace is mostly on the road. And the road, in lack of the controllable attributes of a closed environment, entails way too many risks that need to be considered and, ideally, prevented. So, be vigilant; protect your fleet business.
According to the OSHA, preventing work-related roadway crashes requires solid strategies; and sound safety management practices, as well. In the absence of such strategies, the resulting disappointing numbers speak for themselves. Did you know that from 2003 through 2014 there were 22,000 work-related motor vehicle deaths in the United States, only? Well, these are the facts that CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the national public health institute of the United States) shows. That’s, regarding Motor Vehicle Safety at Work.
But, the truth is, motor vehicle accidents are not the only risk involved in running a fleet business. Let’s go through an overview of additional risks; and then we can move on to see how they can be dealt with, enabling you to protect your fleet business.
Fleet business management and risks involved
You are probably already aware of the risks involved in your fleet business. Starting a fleet business from scratch — or running one for a short time period — will probably help you become more familiar with such risks. But even so, looking at things from a distance is always helpful. Your goal should be to protect your fleet business from unnecessary risks. With that in mind, we’ve prepared a handy digest of things that can go wrong when running a fleet business. And by doing so, we’ll also be focusing on things that, when not taken care of properly, might put your fleet business at risk.
1.You’re not paying enough attention to your hiring process
Truth be told, when you judge new hires with the wrong criteria, your entire business gets exposed to all sorts of risks. And that’s because your ‘fleet of drivers’ is, if you think about it, your actual core business asset. It’s your drivers that will be responsible for your vehicles. And it’s your drivers that will interact with your customers. Put differently, the safety of your assets and property, as well as customer satisfaction are directly dependent on how your drivers perform. Failing to understand that is, in a sense, failing to protect your fleet business from unnecessary risks.
In a similar fashion, their occasional decision to abandon ship and drastically reduce your fleet’s capacity, leaves you crippled; almost unable to accommodate your standard workflows as planned. That’s why it is of paramount importance to find and hire the right ones; and do all you can to keep them.
All in all, when decisions regarding your personnel are not the right ones, you’re typically putting your business at and odd predicament, which translates to risk. And that’s something you should keep in mind, and carefully avoid. That’s a great way to protect your fleet business from risks.
2. Drivers go unsupervised
Even if you’ve hired the right people, you need to constantly keep an eye on your drivers, for many reasons. Be it because they might not treat your vehicles they way they should or because they don’t comply to the guidelines you’ve laid out, such as following predefined routes. Based on your experience, so far, and the situations you may have found yourself in and out of, we’re fairly confident you can think of many different scenarios that have exposed your business to risks. Use your past experience to help protect your fleet business.
3. Neglecting maintenance
Vehicle maintenance can be a pain in the neck. Even more so when you’re too latein resolving the problem. Visiting an auto repair shop also means serious downtime. Trust us; time passes slowly and painfully. So much for working under the assumption your fleet vehicles are in pristine condition. That’s never the case. These are machines, operated by people. Neglecting maintenance may affect your business in a really negative way. That’s a tough lesson to learn. And regardless if you learned it the easy way or the hard way, it’s one of the most important considerations in helping you protect your fleet business from these dreadful break-downs.
The adverse circumstances
These are only three of the cases that may have disastrous consequences on your business. Not to mention, you’ll probably have to deal with these following adverse circumstances; and the effects they entail:
- Incurred costs, in case of an accident:
Maintenance related costs, the need to compensate drivers or recompense victims in an accident, paying extra fines, tickets, penalty fees, vehicle replacements, impact on vehicle life-cycle - Unforeseen delays that hold business workflows back.
- Reputation risk: Losing customers is usually an effect that is irreversible
- The risk of not growing your business as planned (or expected)
- And, the worst of all? Shutting down, of course. It happens.
The good news is, there are things you can do to prevent, mitigate or eliminate any or all risk factors mentioned above. That way, you can protect your fleet business and help everyone respond to challenges all the more effectively .
How can you protect your fleet business and manage risks? That’s what we’re going to explain next. Keep reading.
Manage risk, improve operations and keep business financials healthy
Overoptimistic or not, no matter how this statement sounds to you, when you take precautions ,the odds on winning the risk management game are so much greater.
1. Monitoring fleet vehicles and driving behaviors with Telematics
You may try Veturilo and see for yourself how you can easily remain in the know about the status of your vehicles, at any moment; and how your drivers behave on the road. And that’s by easily installing our OBD device to your vehicles and getting a subscription to our service. Checking all of your data easily, from your phone or any device you prefer, will be a breeze.
And, keep in mind, insurance companies would rather insure safe (defensive) drivers than unsafe (aggressive) ones. This should serve to protect your fleet business from high insurance costs.
2. Make fleet maintenance a priority
Keep all of your vehicles well maintained and extend their life-cycle, to your business benefit. Again, you may use our solution that allows you to get notifications on critical issues that need to be addressed. Want to protect your fleet business from downtime? There you go!
3. Offer your drivers specialized training
You can do it on your own or you can trust companies that offer relevant coaching services. You may look for “Fleet Risk Management consultants” or companies that offer specialized training on different subject areas, such as driver behavior that helps prevent collisions.
Conduct a thorough research and decide upon your priorities. In any case, make sure your drivers know what to do in case of an emergency on the road. But, also consider training sessions related to idling and/or defensive driving. These will also help protect your fleet business, reducing roadside accidents.
The first step to protect your fleet business, you can take today
All in all, you should focus on implementing strategies that allow you to be more risk-resistant, in the long run. And remember that being proactive is the first step in building a strong safety-first culture, where risk mitigation is finally — and actually — achieved.