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The effects of nuclear verdicts on the trucking industry

A close-up of police lights at night | Nuclear verdicts

In 2019, trucking bankruptcies quadrupled due to nuclear verdicts. The strategy seen in courtrooms time and time again involved plaintiff’s attorneys pleading to the juries’ “better angels” to award families millions of dollars as a result of a crash with a truck. This is with or without the trucker’s fault and seems to have no relationship to the actual incident or its severity.

What is a nuclear verdict?

A nuclear verdict is defined as a judgment in excess of $10 million as a result of a truck-related crash. Nuclear verdicts also indicate a disproportionate relationship between the settlement and the actual economic or physical damages incurred by the plaintiff.

Nuclear Verdicts in 2019

In the first half of the year, 640 carriers went out of business because of nuclear verdicts, according to the Wall Street Journal. The problem has been noticed by major publications, including Business Insider and Bloomberg, calling 2019 a Recession for the trucking industry.

And while the American Trucking Association is working on proposed legislation to combat nuclear verdicts, that will be years in the making. 

The Ripple Effect of Nuclear Verdicts

Nuclear verdicts don’t just affect certain trucking companies; they affect us all. From job loss to insurance premium prices, the downstream effect of nuclear verdicts is affecting the entire trucking industry.

In 2019 alone, tens of thousands of drivers lost their jobs due to carrier bankruptcies as a result of nuclear verdicts. With that level of job loss, it’s no wonder 2019 was deemed a trucking recession. Imagine if tens of thousands of people were put out of work in any other industry as a result of rampant lawsuits with no reform in sight: 10,000 investment bankers, 10,000 plumbers, 10,000 doctors…you get the idea. There would be protests, legislation drafted, and major structural changes implemented. But the cultural narrative regarding “big trucks” in this country, even though they are a driver of America’s economy, is that truck drivers and truck companies are dangerous on the road.

This is why trucking companies must be hyper-vigilant. 

Preventable Risk

Hyper-vigilance in this day and age means assessing and managing preventable risks. When nuclear verdicts are on the rise, so are insurance premiums. Now it is more important than ever to protect your company and your drivers through regular maintenance and safety training.

According to the FMCSA, last year, driver error accounted for 87 percent of crash risk, while 10 percent was caused by preventable maintenance. With the added scrutiny on trucking companies and the prevalence of nuclear verdicts, it is more important than ever to address those preventable risks to avoid losing your business altogether.

How Can Nuclear Verdicts Affect My Company?

Currently, insurance premiums are rising year over year by 50 – 100 percent, even for smaller carriers. Carriers of all sizes are being affected by nuclear verdicts, with insurance companies mitigating losses on the front end. Some insurance carriers even are getting out of the business altogether.

When profit margins hover around 5 percent, the doubling of insurance premiums can be injurious to trucking companies, even forcing some companies into bankruptcy.

To read more about the downstream effects and help on calculations for future cost models, check out our whitepaper.

What Can I Do to Avoid a Nuclear Verdict?

  • • Driver training is the single best thing you can do to protect your company from a nuclear verdict. Contact one of our experts today about customizable training for your drivers.
  • • Establish processes and procedures for truck maintenance across your enterprise, even for contractors. 
  • • Documentation, documentation, documentation. If you don’t document it, it didn’t happen. Make sure all your training and maintenance records are stored and updated properly.
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Rising Insurance Premiums for Transportation Firms: What are the Causes?

A driver leans against his truck tire as he takes a break | Rising Insurance Premiums for Transportation Firms

In the last couple of years, insurance premiums for transportation firms have been skyrocketing, and there’s no end in sight. The best trucking companies with the best CSA scores see a 20 to 30 percent increase, while other companies can see a double and even triple increase. Why are we seeing rising insurance premiums for transportation firms and what are the causes?

Causes and Effects of Rising Insurance Premiums for Transporation Firms

Rising insurance premiums for transportation firms can potentially affect the nationwide economy, as costs are passed from insurance companies to trucking companies, and down the line to consumers. A big part of these rising premiums is litigation and the increased frequency of nuclear verdicts.

Nuclear verdicts are settlements for $10 million and up, and 2019 was a record year for them, topping out at nearly $300 million for the record-breaker. With that kind of money going out the door on a regular basis, insurance companies are having a harder time insuring trucking companies. In fact, many insurance providers have completely exited the trucking business altogether. These rising costs impact the insurance companies’ loss ratio, which then results in rising insurance premiums for transportation firms.

How is a loss ratio calculated?

Insurance companies calculate loss ratios to determine profitability. They calculate money lost in claims vs. money paid in premiums to determine their loss ratio. When the ratio gets narrow, premiums increase.

Risk Exposure

By being in the trucking industry, you accept a certain amount of risk. However, every trucking business owner should take an honest inventory of what risks they can actually control, then develop a strategy to address those risks.

Insurance companies are looking for reasons to increase your premium, so you need a tool to help mitigate that risk and demonstrate to your insurance provider that you are insurable and maintain a culture of safety.

With insurance premiums rising so sharply, there is an opportunity to lighten the risk exposure with quality safety training for drivers. Safety programs have been shown to help mitigate the rising costs of insurance premiums and reduce the instance of nuclear verdicts.

Safety First

A high-quality safety program must be accessible for drivers and have flawless, immediate reporting. Driver scores completed modules, and ongoing engagement go a long way toward proving to an insurance company or a courtroom that you have an airtight culture of safety.

Infinit-I Workforce Solutions is a customizable, cloud-based tool that helps you create and enforce your unique safety program. With short, engaging videos, drivers can engage on their phones without impacting drive or rest time. Each module has a quiz, and scores are recorded in real-time. 

In an environment of high risk and low profit margins, you need to do all you can to mitigate rising insurance premiums and litigation. Our safety training solution can help.

What do I need to know now? | Rising Insurance Premiums for Transportation Firms

  • • Insurance premiums for transportation firms are rising rapidly, sometimes doubling or tripling year over year.
  • • Your transportation firm can mitigate rising costs by implementing our customizable training solution.
  • • Documentation could save your company in the courtroom and make you more insurable.
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How Reporting Reduces Insurance Costs and Litigation Risk for Transportation Firms

How Reporting Reduces Insurance Costs and Litigation Risk for Transportation Firms

Nuclear verdicts are on the rise, now more than ever. With these verdicts totaling $10 million or more each, this presents a real threat to your business.  In fact, the rise of nuclear verdicts has resulted in many trucking companies going out of business, and many insurance carriers are exiting the trucking industry completely. With insurance costs and litigation risk for transportation firms soaring around every turn, it is more imperative than ever to enforce safety policies and procedures, and have clear documentation.

And while the national inflation rate is about 2 percent, insurance rates are actually increasing by 50 – 100 percent year over year for trucking companies, due to nuclear verdicts. 

What is litigation risk?

Any roadside incident presents the opportunity for litigation. With the appetite for litigation at an all-time high, it is important to train drivers on how to avoid these incidents by using your safety protocols—the more robust your safety program, the smaller the risk for litigation.

Nuclear Verdicts and Their Impact

In October 2019, Country Wide RV Transport (CWRV) was one of the latest trucking companies that fell victim to a nuclear verdict. The second-largest RV and motor-home transportation provider in the country, they employed nearly 600 drivers and contractors, all of whom were informed right before the holidays that they would no longer have jobs. The driver who caused the accident was an independent contractor, but the company was still held liable for damages to the tune of $26.6 million.

In the largest nuclear verdict of 2019, and, in fact, in history, a jury awarded a $280 million verdict in only 45 minutes of deliberation. Was the accident tragic? Absolutely. Was it the truck driver’s fault? Absolutely. Was the verdict inordinately high? Absolutely.

Fatalities are decreasing, yet nuclear verdicts are increasing. 

Each year for the last decade has seen significant increases in litigation resulting in nuclear verdicts, with an extreme uptick in the last two years. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have discovered a gold mine in cases against trucking companies, and you better believe they are hard at work mining every dollar, or in this case, every million that they can possibly get. So while your company is hovering at a 5% profit margin, you’re funding plaintiffs’ lawyers’ fancy vacations. 

You can’t afford it.

Insurance costs are rising rapidly, even for squeaky-clean trucking companies. Insurance providers understand the litigation risks associated with the industry and lose a great deal on nuclear verdicts. Many insurance providers don’t even cover trucking companies anymore due to litigation risk.

What can you do about it? 

With nuclear verdicts and insurance costs on the rise, you can’t afford to take any chances. This is not going away and, in fact, is only getting worse. 

The best leg you can stand on in court is your culture and history of safety, with airtight documentation. Juries, judges, lawyers, and insurance companies become very interested in your culture of safety and history of documentation when a settlement is on the line. 

Learn more about building and maintaining a culture of safety

To get the most out of your safety program and prevent excessive insurance costs and litigation risk, you need a program that is easily accessible to drivers and offers real-time, cloud-based documentation.

Not sure where to start?

Check out our whitepaper on controlling insurance costs, which will help you understand:

  • • What part of your risk exposure you can control
  • • What you can actively do to mitigate your risk exposure
  • • How your company can proactively work to establish a culture of safety that can help reduce accidents, improve defensibility in court, and give access to the best possible insurance rates

Download the Controlling Insurance Costs whitepaper now!

Increase our defensibility in court

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What Triggers a DOT Compliance Audit?

What Triggers a DOT Compliance Audit?

What Triggers a DOT Compliance Audit?

When it comes to a DOT compliance audit, it’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “when”. An audit is triggered after an accident or poor review during a roadside stop. These audits can also be triggered by bad CSA scores for a company.

On top of these issues that can trigger an audit, the DOT does do random audits at times, so you will find yourself going through a compliance audit if you work in the trucking industry. When the auditor comes, you need to be ready with proper documentation.

Remember, if it’s not documented, dated, and readily available, it didn’t happen.

How does the DOT oversee trucking firms?

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is a federal regulatory agency that oversees all transportation in the United States. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is a division of the DOT tasked with regulating the commercial vehicle industry.

The FMCSA develops and enforces regulations meant to keep the roadways and truck drivers safe. All trucking companies and drivers must follow all FMCSA regulations or face penalties such as fees or having their trucks taken off the road.

What Do You Need During a DOT Audit?

When an auditor comes, it’s important to have all the necessary documentation ready, including driver logs, medical records, and safety training records. This documentation could mean the difference between a simple audit and getting your trucks parked.

One of the most important things an auditor looks for is your company’s safety record. They want to see how you’re implementing driver safety training programs, and more importantly how well they are working.

They will also look at your company policies. They want to make sure all company personnel have read and are following these policies. It’s important to make sure all your documentation can prove consistent efforts towards maintaining a culture of safety.

complaince audit protection
The Consequences of a Bad Audit

If your DOT compliance audit doesn’t show sufficient training and safety documentation, you could end up with a Conditional status, meaning the auditor provides an action plan and a deadline for you to implement it.

Conditional status can put a target on your company. Your trucks will get stopped more often and will be subjected to more frequent roadside inspections. You’ll also find it difficult to find clients and drivers willing to work with your company if you have a conditional status.

Without the right tools in place, you could end up costing your company time and money.

Protecting Your Company During an Audit

The best way to make sure you have all your documentation ready for an audit is to implement an online DOT safety training program like Infinti-I Workforce Solutions. The Infinit-I system is easy for drivers to use and makes maintaining and accessing records easy for you.

The cloud-based solution allows drivers to complete ongoing short, interactive courses, and maintains all records of participation and testing scores with date and timestamps. This means when DOT comes calling for an audit, you have all the documentation you need to keep your trucks on the road and in good standing.

Infint-I can help you solve your biggest safety training issues, all while saving your company money. For more information about how, download our risk management whitepaper.

Prepare Against Your Next DOT Audit

Your company could be subject to a DOT compliance audit at any time, but especially after incidents on the road. A culture of safety goes a long way towards passing these audits, and that’s where Infinit-I Workforce Solutions is on your side.

Before you take your chances with your next audit, check out how Infinit-I can help you create a program to meet your safety and compliance needs. To see it for yourself, request a demo today.

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The Real Cost of Trucks Going Out of Service

The Real Cost of Trucks Going Out of Service

How much is the real cost of trucks going out of service due to preventable maintenance? It seems like such an easy thing—check the engine, check the tires, and good to go. But incomplete pre- or post-checks can have a major impact on a trucking company. 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Pre- and post-stop checks can seem tedious at times, but they can make the difference between your business making money and paying out the nose for on-the-road maintenance and delivery delays. 

When an airplane pilot prepares to fly a plane, they always perform pre- and post-flight checks to ensure that the plane is in working order and safe for all. Truck drivers need to take a similar responsibility and take it every bit as seriously. When a tire blows out on the road, it could mean accident and injury, and most definitely means towing, off-site maintenance, and delays. And the cost of that truck to go out of service exponentially multiplies if it results in litigation or impacts client relationships.

Accidents or on-the-road incidents due to the lack of proper maintenance will most likely result in a DOT audit.

The cost for trucks going out of service not only includes financial costs, but time, effort, and reputational costs. If a DOT audit results in a “Conditional” status, that means you must allocate resources to create, implement, and manage an improvement plan. Many shipping and freight clients will not work with trucking companies who have a Conditional status, and without those relationships, you don’t have a business.


How can maintenance logs reduce my insurance premiums?

Every year insurance companies look at incidents and any other proof on the record to justify charging a higher premium. A maintenance log goes a long way toward ensuring and documenting a culture of safety at your trucking company, keeping premiums as low as possible.

Maintenance logs are business-savers.

When the DOT or the lawyer comes calling after an incident, the first thing they look at is maintenance logs. Did the truck have proper documentation? Does your company require and enforce documentation as part of your culture of safety?

If the answer is no, the cost of a truck going out of service for preventable maintenance is high. Higher than you and your business want to pay.  

And we know that if the maintenance logs don’t tell a favorable story, the insurance company will absolutely increase your premiums.

How can my trucking company avoid the effects of preventable maintenance issues?

Truck drivers are responsible for their own logs, but those logs play a big part in keeping your business on the road. To keep operations lean and profitable, your trucking company must avoid the downstream costs of your trucks going out of service for preventable maintenance.

This means equipping drivers with training and easy documentation tools. 

Infiniti-I Workforce Solutions is an easy training program that keeps your employees and owner/operators up to date with your policies and best practices for maintenance and documentation. Maintaining your trucks and being aware of potential maintenance issues can save your company hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.

Don’t let money fly out the door.

The cost for a truck to be out of service is too hefty a price to pay, from maintenance to delivery delays to insurance premiums that might be affected.  All told, this could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars out the door instead of in for your trucking company.

Key Takeaways:

  • • The cost for trucks to be out of service is too high to risk
  • • Preventable maintenance issues can cost your company in legal settlements, client relationships, and insurance premiums
  • • Infiniti-I Workforce Solutions trains your drivers to keep detailed and timely maintenance logs
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How Automatic Reporting Can Reduce the Risk of Poor CSA Scores

Three red semi trucks parked next to each other | improve CSA scores

If you’ve been in the trucking industry long, you know all about poor CSA scores, and you’ve heard the dreaded words. The words you hear after something terrible happens. The words uttered again and again inside courtrooms. The words that can mean the difference between walking away and paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to a plaintiff:

“Prove it.”

If you can’t prove it, it didn’t happen.

In this day and age, trucking companies must have clear and accessible documentation for every log, every training hour, and every incident to keep CSA scores low. Because poor CSA scores might clench the deal in the courtroom.

And, if a trucking company can’t provide irrefutable documentation when the time comes, then legally, it didn’t happen.

What is a CSA score?  And how can a poor CSA score affect me?

CSA stands for Compliance, Safety, and Accountability, and is a reflection on both drivers and trucking companies. CSA scores reflect driver behavior on the road and cover everything from problems with tires to speeding tickets to wrecks. Poor CSA scores can cause major negative effects for your company.

Keeping CSA scores low helps your company mitigate soaring insurance premiums and gives you a leg to stand on in court.

A poor CSA score says to clients, insurance companies, and plaintiffs that a driver and his or her company doesn’t have a strong culture of safety.

Your CSA score can impact not only insurance premiums but can also play a big part in getting and retaining clients. Shipping companies and other prospects want to know that a company will transport their goods safely and efficiently, as they are also held responsible in the event of an accident.

How can I improve my poor CSA scores?

Our online, mobile-friendly training tool equips drivers with the safety knowledge they need to keep CSA scores low and keep your business on the road. Safety training can be completed quickly and easily while your driver isn’t actively driving the truck, such as during loading and unloading, and the results are stored and available immediately.

Instant, cloud-based documentation at your fingertips

Our online training tool does the documentation for you and keeps it stored safely in the cloud, with easy access whenever you need it. 

Check out our whitepaper for more information on maintaining your safety culture and keeping CSA scores low.

So, whenever you’re told to “prove it,” you can.

Key Takeaways to Improve Poor CSA Scores:

  • • Keep CSA scores low with ongoing, easily accessible training 
  • • Document your training records in the cloud, for consistent and accessible documentation any time you need it
  • • Download our guide for more on creating, building and maintaining your safety culture, to keep CSA scores low, and help decrease business risks

View our clients CSA score improvements

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Three Tips to Better Manage Accident Risk for Your Transportation Firm

A close-up of a driver holding a steering wheel | manage accident risk

In May 2019, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published its 2017 Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts. And let’s just say: sometimes facts are scarier than fiction. So, how can you manage accident risk for your transportation firm?

According to FMCSA, there was a 9-percent increase in fatal accidents involving trucks or buses between 2016 and 2017, and there was a 4-percent increase in crashes resulting in injury. Total, that’s over 120,000 crashes involving trucks or buses in one year. And with over 1,500 clients with 300,000 drivers collectively, we aim to help you manage your firm’s accident risk and protect your human resources. 

After the Accident

Those 120,000 crashes resulted in even more people and families whose lives were affected, and many resulted in lawsuits. Additionally, valuable time was lost, and delivery schedules were delayed, costing shipping, receiving, and trucking companies hundreds of thousands of dollars. And ultimately, many trucking companies were assigned a DOT Compliance Review.

What is a DOT Compliance Review?

Similar to a safety audit, a DOT Compliance Review is an onsite examination by the FMCSA.  Major accidents, poor CSA scores, complaints, and violations can trigger a DOT Compliance Review. 

DOT Compliance Reviews will examine records closely, so it is imperative to have reliable, date-stamped, cloud-based storage for all your driver training records.

Before the Accident

What if those accidents could have been avoided? How many lives could we save, and how many hours could we get back if we could prevent accidents instead of solving “after?” As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

What would it take to prevent accidents? We’ve compiled a list of our top three tips for managing your transportation company’s accident risks.

  1. Maintain and deploy your company’s policies and procedures on a regular basis. The best policies and procedures don’t mean anything if not used effectively. In a DOT Compliance Review, your policies and procedures will be requested, and you open your company up to serious compliance risk if they aren’t followed. How do you effectively deploy policies and procedures to your workforce? There’s an app for that.
  2. Hire and retain the best drivers. The trucking industry has a high turnover rate, and transportation companies need to stay competitive in today’s market to retain great drivers. Recognition, engagement and ongoing, user-friendly training help keep your drivers on the road and delivering their best results.
  3. Use Infiniti-I Workforce Solutions’ online safety training. Most of your drivers have base-level safety knowledge. Still, Infinity-I Workforce Solutions goes above and beyond with great safety training modules that are quick, easily digestible, and mobile-friendly, to ensure that every driver in your fleet has high-quality training they can easily access and use.

In today’s high-risk, high-turnover environment, you must provide safety training. We can help customize your training plans to avoid the dreaded DOT Compliance Review and other associated risks of the road. Contact one of our experts today, and together we can build the plan that’s right for your business needs.

Key Takeaways for managing accident risk:

  • • Accidents are more frequent than ever before, and trucking companies must mitigate their accident risk to keep their companies profitable and keep drivers safe.
  • • Hiring and retaining the best drivers make a huge difference to a company’s risk profile.
  • • High-quality training and updates on policies and procedures are a must in today’s high-risk environment. Infiniti-I Workforce Solutions can work with you to customize your driver training tools—keeping safety standards high and costs low. 
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Three Ideas for Improving CSA Scores

three semi trucks driving toward the camera | poor CSA scores

Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) shouldn’t just be a priority for your business, but a core value as well. So we’ve compiled our top three ideas for maintaining and improving CSA scores, to help your business develop a culture of safety and keep your drivers on the road.

Keeping your drivers on the road is a top priority, and it’s the only way your transportation company stays in the black. But with 5 million other drivers on the road every day, it’s crucial that drivers maintain a proven track record of safety. That’s why the DOT keeps and maintains CSA records—to ensure that all drivers are safe on American roadways. 

How are CSA scores calculated?

CSA scores measure safety violations, inspections, violations, and crashes for every driver and transportation company.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a division of DOT, records behavioral data to calculate CSA scores.

Drivers and carriers alike are held responsible for keeping CSA scores low. Noncompliance can result in warning letters and even investigations from the DOT. 

Tips for Improving CSA Scores:

  1. Keep trucks properly maintained. If a company’s documentation reflects consistent maintenance problems on its trucks, that company’s CSA scores will reflect it. Make sure 100% of your fleet gets regular maintenance, tire changes, and always keeps fire extinguishers on board. Those are just a few maintenance must-haves to keep CSA scores low.
  2. Hire and keep the best drivers. CSA scores are publicly available and should be part of your screening process for new hires. And once you hire great drivers, it’s always a challenge to keep them on board. Our online tools can keep them engaged and appreciated while they’re on the road. 
  3. Invest in training. High quality, easily accessible training is the key to promoting your company’s culture of safety, which goes a long way toward improving CSA scores. Download our whitepaper for tips on training your entire fleet to maintain safety while on the road. 

Compliance Doesn’t Have to be a Four-Letter Word.

With our easy-to-use online training tools, drivers can stay up to date on the latest compliance issues, make sure they have the tools to succeed and keep your business profitable and in good standing with the DOT. We make it easy for drivers and companies alike to stay in compliance and mitigate safety-related costs such as litigation and rising insurance premiums.

Key Takeaways for Improving CSA Scores:

  • Keep trucks properly maintained
  • Hire and retain the best drivers 
  • Train and equip your drivers with CSA best practices using our online training tool

Use our handy guide for improving and maintaining your CSA score

View our clients CSA score improvements

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How Truckers Can Help Combat Human Trafficking

The Truckers Against Trafficking Logo overlaying several trucks driving on a highway toward the camera | help combat human trafficking this January during Human Trafficking Awareness month

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. We are partnering with Truckers Against Trafficking to use our unique positioning to combat human trafficking. Most human trafficking happens via major transportation routes and hubs, and truck drivers can be a first line of defense.

What is Human Trafficking?

The definition of human trafficking is “the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation.”

And human traffickers rely on the transportation industry to operate.

How to Spot the Signs of Human Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking offers great training resources for your drivers, and also shares success stories of drivers who have successfully identified and stopped human trafficking as it was happening. 

Be on the lookout for victims that exhibit some or all of these signs:

  • • Appearing destitute/no personal possessions
  • • Showing signs of physical injury or abuse
  • • Avoiding eye contact or social interaction, avoiding law enforcement
  • • Having tattoos/”branding” on the back of the neck or lower back
  • • Interacting with others seems scripted
  • • Appearing to have poor physical or dental health

How Can Trucking Companies Help?

Transportation companies are in a unique position to combat human trafficking. By training every driver to spot the signs, and equipping them with the tools to alert authorities, we can make a huge difference in the fight against human trafficking.

Trafficking almost always happens along major roadways, shipping, and transportation hubs, and roadside rest stops. 

As we deploy our drivers to these areas, they are our cavalry, charging out as the front line of defense against trafficking.

Driver Education on Combatting Human Trafficking

Some states require human trafficking training for renewing CDL licenses as well as new licenses, while others would require it only for first-time CDL licenses.

As part of our recognition of Human Trafficking Awareness month, we have partnered with Truckers Against Trafficking to offer a webinar to discuss human trafficking and how those in the transportation industry can learn to spot the signs, take action and save lives.

Infinit-I Workforce Solutions is partnering with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) to use our exclusive platform to combat this issue and raise consciousness. Click here to learn how you can help, and talk to one of our experts today about adding human trafficking driver education to your training program. 

Three Key Takeaways:

  1. Human trafficking is prevalent at transportation hubs
  2. The human trafficking industry relies on the transportation industry to function
  3. You can be on the frontline in combat of this issue by training and equipping your drivers to spot the signs and take action

If you suspect human trafficking, call the 24/7 National Trafficking Hotline:1-888-373-7888 or text “HELP’ to 233733.

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Why Enhanced Safety Culture Is Your #1 Money Saver

enhanced safety culture

You’re probably working on the budget about now. Looking at 2020 with tight margins, what do you do? Where do you cut? Do you negotiate better prices on tires? Fuel? Do you start eliminating positions or cutting back hours? The solution is not saving in dribs and drabs. You need to break through the pattern of diminishing industry returns. A decisive, comprehensive commitment to enhanced safety culture does this. Save money while reducing accidents and incidents and saving lives.

Ignoring Safety = Revenue Loss

Most owners and managers don’t tend to think of safety as something that saves them money. If “Keep the customer happy, cut corners, and pray” is how you’re doing business, it’s time to change. In a highly safety-conscious era, you’re paying too high a cost.

Putting “savings” before safety means:

Accidents and incidents get worse and more frequent. The average truck accident with significant damage easily costs $200-300K. If this doesn’t hit the threshold for insurance to kick in, you’re paying out of pocket. You’re paying damages and repairs in the best scenarios, lawsuits, and high human costs otherwise.

Insurance goes up. CSA scores are part of determining your insurance premiums. If your rate only goes up 10% this year, you’re lucky. Industry-wide, they’re going up 20-40%. And insurance companies are getting pickier about who they insure. Some major companies, like AIG, no longer insure trucking companies at all. And if you become uninsurable, you’re out of business.

Reputation declines. With a poor safety record, you won’t be able to attract the best employees or the best clients. You can even lose clients and drivers who don’t want to ship with an unsafe carrier or a carrier who can’t protect them. 

Inspections, fines, and fees increase. When a company has a poor safety record, they get targeted for more inspections. Your chances of paying fines and fees go up. Drivers are put out of service more often. This pattern drains money and discourages drivers from wanting to work for you.

Expensive technology doesn’t pay. If you’re not harnessing your expensive safety technology to change behaviors, you’re only wasting money. All the technology in the world can’t guarantee you fuel efficiency, better braking, proper lane changes, and hands-free communications if your drivers aren’t doing their job.

Enhanced Safety Culture = Survival

Here’s the fact: improved safety preserves business. The FMCSA is preaching the safety culture gospel for a reason. All your safety issues are linked to business viability. Not only does safety protect the motoring public, but it also makes it possible for trucking to have a future. 

Safety culture is no longer your “goal” — it’s your straight-up, base-level survival; non-negotiable:

  • • You’ve got to have the resources to respond to increased vigilance of regulators and insurance companies. 
  • • You have to start building awareness and changing behaviors in drivers to avoid fines, fees, and lawsuits. 
  • • You’ve got to stay positively connected with drivers in order to reduce turnover. 
  • • To protect yourself in court, you’ve got to document your efforts and do it effectively. 

These are the building blocks of an enhanced safety culture and major savings. 

Cost Savings Breakdown

You can’t afford not to improve safety. But your ROI depends on how you go about it. 

Training costs – Save up to 70%

Safety awareness training is most effective when it’s frequent, consistent, and keeps best practices top of mind. If you’re trying to train by pulling drivers off the road for several hours 4x a year, it’s like expecting your kid to clean his room every Friday because you asked him to once. Repetition and consistency build memory and response. That’s where online training provides exceptional ROI. Our cloud-based safety training solutions can save you up to 70% on training. 

Violations and Accidents – Save a minimum of $80,000/yr

Industry statistics show that training your drivers yields a 70:1 ROI by reducing violations up to 50% and accidents up to 40%. For an average company of 100 drivers (who align with national statistics for accidents), our system can save you a minimum of $80,000 a year in preventable accident costs and reduce the severity of accidents when they occur. 

Insurance – Slow, stop or reverse rising premiums

Insurance companies know that if you have a web-based training platform that allows you an increased frequency of safety messaging and training, you’re setting yourself up for better CSA outcomes. Underwriters see this as a positive checkmark when calculating your premiums, and it pays! Insurance partners and associations trust us to reduce their risk of lost revenue, which often translates into best possible insurance premium rates. 

Safety technology – Get the most for your money

You can invest a lot in safety technology. When there’s an event, an online platform lets you turn it into a learning opportunity. Stop bad behavior, improve CSA, and avoid costly fines, fees, and lawsuits. You can train and remediate based on the data and footage you’ve captured. You can upload custom content, and have the driver who made the mistake teach other drivers, explaining what they did wrong. Train and re-train on the events that occur. 

Commitment to Safety Is the Solution

One of our clients is the 2nd largest contractor for FedEx. After using our system, they’ve upped their game: if drivers don’t do their safety training, the dispatcher doesn’t give them work. That’s how serious they are about safety and about seeing outcomes. They know it saves lives, saves money, and saves equipment. In one year, they saved $100,000 on insurance. They’re committed to enhanced safety culture, and it’s paying off.

Download our free whitepaper to learn more about safety scores and savings and how to get better business outcomes with Infinit-I Workforce Solutions.

Decrease yearly accident costs

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