The Effect of Management Involvement on Vehicle Safety Improvement

Abstract

Abstract The importance of management involvement in any safety initiative is well understood in the industry. In our research, we discovered three necessary factors to maximize safe driving behavior with an invehicle monitor system: 1) real-time audible feedback of unsafe behavior in the vehicle, 2) an environment where the driver can change small unsafe choices for the safer without penalty, and 3) involvement by management or another interested third party to review the driving history and take action if necessary. Over the past several years, we observed varying degrees of management involvement leading to varying degrees of success in the safety improvement in the fleets we monitor. This paper quantifies the effect of the management involvement in terms of measured unsafe driving events. The paper applies to HSE professionals and management working on land transportation safety programs based on the industry best practice for land transportation safety. The paper shows that management attitudes alone dramatically affect the outcome of vehicle safety programs. Since vehicle-related accidents are the highest category of fatalities in oilfield work, the significance of this fact is lives… saved or lost.