10 Nov 4 essential safety metrics you should be tracking

It’s incredibly difficult to make informed business decisions without performance indicators. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help to measure whether your fleet drivers are operating at optimum levels and with minimal risk.

When it comes to measuring safety, there are a few key safety metrics we recommend using as a focus point for improving business operations.

Defining your KPIs

To help gauge your business’ progress, you should first define your safety metrics. You can calculate standard safety KPIs based on either frequency or number of incidents.

Frequency Rate

The number of events over a given period of time, divided by the number of hours worked.

Incident Rate

The number of events over a given period of time, divided by the number of employees.

To streamline determining your key performance indicators and provide immediate insights into your organisation’s operations, you might like to consider investing in modern-day fleet management solutions. 

These solutions measure and compile important data into easy-to-reference dashboards. The dashboards are invaluable for fleet managers for their ability to report on virtually any variable, particularly those that may be more important to your business. You can then use this information to optimise fleet expenses, develop improved plans for training, satisfy safety compliance, and plenty more.

The 4 essential safety metrics

The most suitable key performance indicators for safety are completely dependent on your business type and safety goals. However, to give you an idea of some of the most essential metrics for most fleets, here are four safety metrics you should strongly consider.

1. Number of actual collisions

Actual collision insights are instrumental to maintaining fleet safety. These insights help you, as the employer, to show your commitment to measuring and preventing on-road collisions, ensuring a genuine safety culture and avoiding unnecessary costs like unscheduled maintenance.

2. Number of near collisions (aka near misses)

Measuring the number of near collisions is the best indicator showing the trend of your fleet’s involvement in actual collisions. Near collision insights, therefore, help you to identify, assess and mitigate the risk of collisions occurring in future. 

3. Driver training metrics

Regular coaching is essential for creating change. By utilising the insights gained from your organisation’s KPIs, you can provide ongoing training that is insightful and effective in addressing problem areas. 

Number of training sessions, retention of training information, and the frequency of collisions in comparison are just some of the measurable metrics you can use to establish the effectiveness of safety procedures.

4. Driver safety metrics

Last but not least, driver safety metrics. Our Lytx DriveCam vehicle tracking and event recorder is designed to help identify risky driving behaviours, assess the risk, and provide insights that help you better coach your drivers.

Smart technology can identify human behaviours such as:

• Eating
• Drinking
• Smoking
• Texting
• Unsafe following distances
• Speeding
• Incomplete stops
• Harsh braking

These are all behaviours that have been proven to significantly increase the risk of a collision. 

Create behavioural change in your fleet

By establishing a consistent measurement of change like some of the safety KPIs mentioned above, you can encourage self-correction and achieve a significant reduction in collisions, making all of the difference for your company and the families of your drivers.

Ready to talk fleet safety? Get in touch and find out exactly what we can do for you and your fleet.

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