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An estimated 37% of trucking incidents from MEM policyholders happen outside of Missouri. An average of 52% of transportation claims at MEM resulted in the employee experiencing lost work days, and the average time an employee will remain off work is over 90 days. What can you do to help drivers at any time?

As part of our WorkSAFE Webinar series, we recently hosted a webinar titled “Effective Trucking Safety: Tips for Addressing Fleet Risks Today.” If you missed it, you can watch it here when it works for you.

Not able to tune in? Here are a few takeaways and best practices that you can use from the presentation.

Invest in prevention.

• Consider post offer employment physicals or POET.
• Invest in technology such as telematics to monitor real time truck safety and as well as crash avoidance technology.
• Provide lifestyle and wellness resources: obesity is a factor in more than 39% of MEM transportation claims.

Pay attention to overexertion. It is a top injury cause in transportation.

• Put additional emphasis and resources to prevent injuries such as wrist fractures, foot fractures, falls, and knee strains. Shoulder injuries are also common.
• Read more on this topic with the Preventing Falls from Trucks Tool Box Talk.

Communicate safety every day. Every day is a training day.

• Create a tool box talk or piece of communication after every safety incident submitted to your insurance provider.
• Use the safety resources available to you from your insurance provider and other sources.
• Ask yourself when someone breaks a safety rule, does corrective action happen?
• When safety happens, consider recognizing the good work and safety practices with a note or other small token of appreciation.

Report incidents within 24 hours.

All employees should adhere to an injury reporting policy that requires injury reporting by the end of the shift or day.

Additional resources

Learn more about common trucking work comp claims in our Fleet and Transportation Claims infographic or these other free resources:

• Fleet Safety Management Podcast:
• Addressing Overcorrection and Tire Blowout
• Sample Incident Reporting Policy
• Sample Seat Belt Policy
• Sample Defensive Driving Policy
• Sample Cell Phone Policy
• 8 Must Have Safety Policies and How to Enforce Them
• FMCSA’s pre-employment screening program (PSP) available to trucking companies
• FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, and Accountability compliance and enforcement program