This is the first of two articles covering driving safety and fleet vehicles for Restoration Companies. In this article I will cover basic driver safety, driver training, and vehicle maintenance. Consider this article the foundation of your driving and vehicle safety program. I will build onto that foundation with a second article covering the technical and often confusing topic of fleet safety and compliance. As always, I will provide the key information you need, try not to bury you in details, and provide plenty of resources and references. Let’s get started!
For a restoration technician, there are certainly a few tasks or activities that we all recognize as having relatively high risk. A few that come to mind are working at heights, operating a lift, or working in a hazardous breathing atmosphere (e.g. mold, COVID-19, asbestos). But I believe there is one risky task that is commonly overlooked. I believe that the most dangerous task any employee performs during an average work day is driving a vehicle. That includes to and from jobs, as well as to and from work!