The power of consequences in changing driver behaviour must be used effectively. Many organisations which run a fleet of vehicles don’t have a formal approach to introducing a consequence if an employee isn’t meeting appropriate driving standards. Maybe the telematics data is showing up poor driving behaviour, maybe the driver is having regular collisions, there needs to be a consequence to change poor driving behaviour.
Taking a damaged vehicle off a driver, repairing it and giving the keys back to the driver without an intervention to improve the driving standard of that individual will do nothing to change your driving culture.
Steps to consider
The consequence needs to closely follow the incidence of poor driving behaviour. There needs to be a connection between poor performance and the intervention.
The consequence needs to be consistent. Your employees must know what to expect if they don’t drive to your standards. This is where the formal procedure comes in.
A big part of making consequences work is knowing your employees and therefore knowing which consequence will have the most impact.
The consequence also needs to support the behaviour that you want to instil in your employee. The intervention therefore needs to be positive. It needs to be instructive, so the employee learns from the exercise. Maybe you can introduce a toolbox talk on a relevant driving subject, these interventions don’t need to be expensive.
What’s even more powerful is when peer pressure is bought to bear. Maybe there is a team competition that is part based on collision prevention? You need to have a robust approach to spotting vehicle damage if you do have an initiative like this but it’s a powerful consequence.
If you need some driving related toolbox talks or a procedure for introducing consequences, please join The Fleet Safety Academy. For more detail, please go to fleetsafetyacademy.co.uk
