Building accidents price the trade roughly $11.5 billion per yr, in response to the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. One kind of concern and collision the trade should contemplate is automotive crashes.
These collisions may cause hurt to these engaged on street building initiatives—and so they may trigger critical risks for these driving to and from websites. April is Distracted Driving Consciousness Month, so it’s an ideal time to reexamine the dangers related to driving distracted whereas working.
The Dangers of Distracted Driving at Work
The NSC (Nationwide Security Council) suggests you might be 4 instances as more likely to crash when utilizing a cellphone whereas driving, and employers are chargeable for $25 million for worker crashes, even when utilizing hands-free gadgets. That may be a important quantity of danger and a major quantity of accountability.
One other report reveals 70% of companies expertise the impression of distracted driving incidents, with 68% citing cell phone use because the main trigger, in response to Teletrac Navman, and 49% report distracted driving has a direct monetary price on enterprise. Whereas the beginning of cellphones utilization in automobiles has risen considerably since its introduction—of the preliminary cellphone from inventor Martin Cooper—it’s clear the position of cellphones in automobiles, fleets, and wherever else for that matter is having an impression on enterprise productiveness and total security.
Employers are answerable for ensuring staff comply with all legal guidelines—and for guaranteeing the protection of all staff. And meaning minimizing distracted driving or strolling on the job typically begins on the high.
The Case for Secure Driving
Let’s contemplate an instance. Owens Corning is an organization with greater than 15,000 staff in 27 corporations that present materials innovation for roofing, insulation, composites, and doorways. Matt Schroder, inside communications and company media relations chief, says the corporate’s efficiency in security had reached some extent the place accidents had considerably decreased, so it might proceed to focus its efforts on eliminating danger earlier than an harm occurred.
Right here the crew reviewed the Nationwide Security Council knowledge and different public sources of knowledge to find out how you can create a coverage and a tradition of security round cellphone use. The coverage turned no cellphone use—handheld or hands-free—and it covers all drivers and applies to any state of affairs the place an worker is conducting any enterprise.
The CEO adhered to it for 90 days earlier than it turned firm coverage and the crew:
- Used the NSC Cell Telephone Coverage Equipment and movies as a base for the plan
- Decided key stakeholders throughout the group
- Recognized potential points with the coverage
- Tried to handle any points prematurely
- Recruited champions from a bunch of stakeholders
- Created the marketing campaign
- Laid out the plan in a world city corridor
- Carried out it over a 60-day interval
Whereas that is one instance, many corporations now have cellphone insurance policies in place that determine how you can work together with gadgets in automobiles and fleets. Coaching and creating a tradition of security are solely two items of this pie although.
The Case for AI
In lots of circumstances, know-how is a foe within the automobiles—however can it even be a buddy? Can know-how assist stop using gadgets in automobiles? That is a query I’ve been asking right here at Related World, Constructech, and The Peggy Smedley Present for years.
Let’s take a look at among the current knowledge. Teletrac Navman launched the outcomes of its AI & Driver Security Survey, which is part of its 2025 Distracted Driving and Driver Security Report. It discovered 83% of fleets say AI is the way forward for security. How?
Respondents say AI shall be used to:
- Monitor driver conduct (32%)
- Predict and forestall potential accidents (17%)
- Scale back distracted driving incidents (16%)
- Enhance automobile upkeep (14%)
- Improve teaching and coaching by means of knowledge (13%)
Nonetheless, there are a lot of potential roadblocks to utilizing AI on this space. Roughly 23% are involved about knowledge privateness and 14% are nervous about driver resistance.
What are your ideas? How can we resolve the distracted driving epidemic in enterprise? Does it begin with a tradition of security? Now we have been making that case for many years and nonetheless too many lives are misplaced by individuals who suppose they’ll multitask on the expense of one other’s life misplaced at a jobsite or when somebody is driving will get distracted. Can coaching and know-how assist to curb distracted driving and unsafe conduct whereas behind the wheel?
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