Driving safety for construction vehicles and assets – what you need to know

A lot has been written about health and safety legislation in New Zealand since the new laws came in to force on 4 April 2016. Here’s what you need to know about driving safety if you work in the construction industry.

Health and Safety At Work Act

Under the new Health & Safety at Work Act, every employee, from owners to drivers in a business, is part of the Chain of Responsibility and has a primary duty of care to ensure their own and other employee's health and safety at work. Owners and managers must exercise due diligence to ensure that the organisation complies with that duty. And all employees must take reasonable steps to ensure that they are kept informed of risks and hazards.

How does workplace health and safety stack up in construction? Workplace health and safety is top of mind with construction business leaders with 36 per cent stating it as a top feature requirement of asset management solutions (according to research firm Telsyte). GPS vehicle tracking can improve operations and workflow management, and hence reduce the occurrence of driver fatigue and help improve driver behaviour. Directing drivers the shortest, most efficient way, is a good example of how asset management improves H&S compliance.

Managing hazards/risks

Ensuring duty of care is particularly challenging for a mobile workforce as vehicles and machines are considered a workplace. To implement and monitor policies around mobile workforce safety, you must have in place workable health and safety policies that are regularly revisited and reviewed.

A safety programme must have specific policies and procedures intended to protect employees from workplace hazards and exposures related to driving vehicles or operating machinery. This is complicated by situations where you’re managing mobile crews, multiple work sites and a lot of equipment.

Safety can be compromised if you don’t have a plan to stay across what’s happening on your site or sites. Whether it's bulldozers, diggers, forklifts, loaders, graders, crawlers, trucks or utes, GPS vehicle tracking and asset management puts you in control by providing a complete overview of the location of all vehicles and assets, and second-by-second information about how they are being operated or driven.

The construction industry must meet stringent certification requirements while managing tight operating margins. An effective preventative maintenance programme is a key part of managing these pressures and meeting workplace health, safety and compliance responsibilities.

Proper maintenance improves vehicle and machine performance and safety, and reduces cost. A poorly-serviced engine runs inefficiently and burns more fuel, while underinflated tyres or binding brakes are other examples of preventable issues that can compromise safety.

Training and supervision

Drivers and operators may be hesitant to admit that they need coaching. GPS fleet management software, such as Teletrac Navman’s DIRECTOR, gives managers, drivers and operators an objective look at unsafe incidents with the Event Viewer feature. This safety tool replays vehicle conduct on DIRECTOR’s map, showing both speed and location for speeding events, cornering, braking and acceleration. The Event Viewer gives a real idea of how drivers are handling their vehicles on a daily basis.

Driver scorecards are another good way to manage driving behaviour and reduce risk. These visual scorecards indicate performance based on unsafe driving events, from speeding to stop sign violations and harsh braking. Managers can go one step further by watching unsafe driving replays in the Event Viewer. The Event Viewer gives managers a bird’s-eye view of road and construction site events, complete with vehicle and machine metrics.

The key to improving workplace safety on construction sites is to have managers, drivers and operators working together to continuously improve driving behaviour and machine operation. Systems like DIRECTOR provide the tools to keep everyone onsite safe.

For further information, check out the WorkSafe Quick Guide – Working With Vehicles and Machinery