By Chad Engle, Loss Prevention and Safety Specialist
Last month’s article covered slip, trip and fall prevention. Slip, trip, and falls are consistently near the top of the leader board for causes of injuries to NIRMA member employees. Another cause of loss that is always near the top is car crashes, or as we like to call them, MVAs.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2021 which was a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020. In Nebraska, motor vehicle traffic crashes result in well over two hundred fatalities per year.
How can this be? How we continue to lose that many lives each year is very frustrating, especially given the new safety features that some vehicles are equipped with.
Forward collision prevention:
- anti-lock brakes
- automatic emergency braking
- forward collision warning
- obstacle detection
Another bit of collision prevention technology is adaptive cruise control, Adaptive cruise control automatically speeds up and slows down your vehicle to keep you a set distance relative to the vehicle you are following, it can also provide some braking. Some vehicles have lane assisting technology that warns you when you drive on or cross the line that marks your lane and may help you steer back into your lane.
The technology vehicles have now is amazing, yet the number of people dying in car crashes is not falling. Unfortunately, we have not developed technology that is able to control our behavior when we are behind the wheel. Sadly, we are our own worst enemy when it comes to driving safely. Changing your behavior requires education and training.
NIRMA offers various training options to keep safe driving “front of mind” for member employees. If it is too difficult to get folks together for in-person training, we offer multiple online options via NIRMA’s Online University. NIRMA also offers thirty plus videos covering safe driving on our Streaming Videos on Demand. Through a partnership with CRL and Safety National we also have three online interactive driving courses available to our members. If none of those options fit, we can also provide the National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Course 4 hour, also known as DDC 4, in-person.
The training options outlined above are all available to NIRMA members at no cost. If you are looking for a training topic that will address a hazard that nearly all employees face, driving safety is the easy choice. Most of us drive daily, it is the most dangerous activity we engage in. Please take advantage of one or more of the resources provided through your membership with NIRMA and do your part to reduce the risk your employees face on the road every day.
To set up training you can always reach me at chad@nirma.info or 1.800.642.6671.
