Post-employment Driver Safety Monitoring
Monitoring on-the-job cellphone use by commercial drivers is prudent. Since it is possible for Driver Cellphone Use Analysis, (DCUA), to coordinate cellphone bills with drivers’ logs it is possible to draw a much clearer picture of cellphone use on-the-job and while moving. This allows true problem detection. These drivers are operating trucks, so the stakes are much higher the safety requirements are much more rigorous – they become black and white, with no gray area. A typical report summary sheet for a firm would look like Figure 1. Three categories of activities are analyzed:
1) Voice Activity while moving
2) Text Activity while moving
3) Maximum possible rest period during a workday
Voice and text requirements are straightforward – using a cellphone while moving is a violation of federal law, (FMCSA Part 392). Maximum possible rest period is easy as well; either it is long enough to satisfy federal minimum rest requirements, or it is not. Pass/Fail is recorded as Green/Red in the summary sheet of the report. In addition, cross correlating drivers’ cellphone bills with drivers’ logs allow us to see if the dispatcher is trying to reach the driver at inappropriate times through voice or text activity between the dispatcher and the driver. The pass/fail criteria is the same as with drivers’ voice and text activity and this allows you to intervene with dispatchers as well as with drivers to improve your safety record. Putting cellphone analytics into practice reduces the possibilities of crashes and demonstrates that the firm took all due diligence in monitoring and correcting cellphone abuse by your employees. This will reduce fatalities, injuries and costs, while also minimizing your exposure to liability.