Waynes World - November 2009
UNDER CSA 2010 IT WILL BE IMPORTANT
TO HAVE A GOOD SAFETY RATING, SO...
PROPERLY TRAIN & TEST
ALL YOUR DRIVERS
by Wayne Schooling
The FMSCA has finally come up with a good idea to create a more professional driver. Mark my words, a professional driver, with a good Driver Measurement Summary (safety rating), is going to be able to ask and get more money in the near future. The new Driver Safety Measurement System will enable Safety Investigators to evaluate roadside performance of drivers across employers over a 3-year period. Drivers with an overall poor safety history may find themselves with an enforcement action taken against them. This is when the old adage of “supply and demand” goes into effect. If there is a high demand for something (like drivers) and you fill that demand, you will make money – but only if you have a good safety rating. And the best way to get (and keep) your drivers and owner operators a good safety rating is to make sure that they are properly trained and tested.
Just like the gunfighters of the old west who “pre-checked” all their weapons before a gunfight, a professional driver in today’s world must “pre-check” his equipment before doing battle with the public on the streets and highways. The driver’s battle plan is to see if he or she can start and finish his or her day without a breakdown, without getting into an accident and, most importantly, getting all of his or her work done in a safe and timely manner. Many carriers “claim” that they train their drivers on vehicle inspections, but how many actually do? One common training method used to “train” drivers is to test the driver using a “CDL-style” pre-trip test. This involves having drivers point to items as they walk around the vehicle and “talk” through what they would check. This can be a good way to verify a driver’s knowledge, but it is neither training nor a test of the driver’s ability to actually inspect a vehicle.
With the advent of CSA 2010 and each driver (soon) getting their own safety rating, tickets received by the driver on the road will indicate improper training, thus giving the reasonable and prudent person probable cause to visit the carrier’s place of business. This statement is true for both drivers in company trucks and leased owner operators in their own rig – it all goes back to the carrier. By training and testing your drivers properly, you will not only be helping them to keep a good safety rating, but also your company. With that in mind, let’s go over some of the issues regarding inspections and testing.
Training involves imparting knowledge and/or skills into the student, and verifying that the new knowledge and/or skills have led to a change in behavior. When teaching a skill, the accurate performance of the skill is the desired behavior. The problem with having drivers “talk” their way through a vehicle inspection is that all you are doing is verifying knowledge the drivers have on vehicle inspections. You are not actually testing their skills. One of the best ways to teach drivers about safety inspections is to enroll them in some courses provided by the Transportation Safety Institute of the U.S. Department of Transportation (these courses are available at NTA’s Online Institute for Motor Carriers at (www.ntassoc.com). All of the courses are interactive, meaning not only does the person have to pay attention, but there is actually a test at the end.
A driver also needs to know how to not only conduct a pre-trip inspection, but also an enroute inspection and a post-trip/DVIR. All three inspections will need to be covered in both the knowledge and skills portions of the program. If the training is not thorough and correct, simple matters such as how to turn various lights on during an inspection, how to check slack adjusters and how to check company specific equipment may remain a mystery to the new drivers. To verify that the training has worked, the driver will need to be tested. The vehicle inspection test should require the driver to put on their gloves and grab a tire gauge. Do not be surprised if some drivers give great “lip service” about vehicle inspections, but when told to actually do one, suddenly they become unsure of what to do or simply cannot do the task.
One reason to train and test on both knowledge and skill is that you are also trying to train an attitude. The attitude that you are trying to impart is that inspections are important, must be done correctly, and must become part of the driver’s regular routine. What message are you sending out if your training and testing allows drivers to “talk through” vehicle inspections without ever actually doing one? Under CSA 2010, it will be imperative that your drivers get clean inspections to keep a good safety rating, so make sure they understand that fact.
How do you spot existing drivers that need more training? Here are a few simple ways: 1) Compare the driver’s “year DVID” or “shop work request” to what the technician working on the vehicle actually discovers. If the vehicle had major problems that the driver failed to report, the driver is a good candidate for retraining. 2) Watch the road repairs. If a driver is continually turning up as needing vehicle repairs for serious problems, consider the driver a candidate for retraining. 3) Set up surveillance at a driver gathering spot (like a company fuel pump) and observe driver inspections. If a driver is completing his or her work day, the driver should be inspecting the vehicle and completing a DVIR. If the driver is starting the workday, a pre-trip should be conducted. If the driver just did a “stop” for fuel, the driver should do an enroute inspection before rolling again. Obviously, if the driver did not do any of the inspections, consider sending them for some retraining. 4) Place notes on the vehicles in locations where a driver conducting a good inspection would find them. The notes can say “call for your prize” or “gift certificate” that needs to be redeemed through the company, etc. Once the notes are in place, track how long it takes the drivers to find them.
~ NTA remains a name you can trust. Our website (www.ntassoc.com) is your official U.S. DOT Internet Training Site and we are administrators of a Nationally Accredited Drug and Alcohol Program. If you have any questions, call me at (562) 279-0557 or send an e-mail to wayne@ntassoc.com. Until next month, “Drive Safe – Drive Smart!”