SPEED.
ATTENTION.
FATIGUE.
EMOTION.
As we saw during the holiday season, winter driving is upon us! The IECRM Safety Forum held in October addressed this important annual topic compliments of IECRM platinum industry partner, Federated Insurance, whose evolving DriveSAFE program has been shared with our association members and apprentices over the last several years.
This past November, I had the opportunity to visit the Federated Insurance headquarters in Owatonna, Minnesota to participate in a two day future of the industry strategic discussion session. I learned about new risks facing the construction industry, including an increase in 2022 in fire related claims; and had the opportunity to learn about Federated’s new telematics driving program.
This new app-based tool allows you to measure and analyze your employees’ driving behavior, coach them to become smarter and safer drivers, and reward them for excellent driving performance. When I first heard about it in the meeting, I thought “oh no, I don’t want anybody tracking my driving!” but as we learned more, our group of national association leaders decided that it would be fun to engage in a little friendly, driving competition among peers in the construction trades. So for the last six weeks, an app on my phone with a device attached to my windshield has been tracking my phone use, my acceleration and braking, my speed and my cornering while I drive.
Since this resource is a free benefit for clients who are members, I also committed to writing about the experience when our friendly competition came to an end. I’m excited to share that I made an A with a final score of 92! Formula One fans can appreciate my excitement with a perfect score of 100 in the “cornering” category! And Colorado’s recent intense weather driving conditions helped improve my braking and acceleration score, where slow and steady wins the race.
While I didn’t win the overall competition, I did garner bragging rights for placing fourth and scoring better than my IEC peers who participated with me! In the end, all of us scored well enough to keep motoring forward. We learned that it is fun to check your score, engage in friendly banter among your colleagues, win cool incentive prizes, and most importantly, be more cognizant of situations that caused you to break, accelerate, or check yourself on whether you really need to engage with your phone screen while driving.
This tool has been introduced over the last year to promote safe driving practices and raise awareness about driving risks while operating fleets and company vehicles. For more information about Federated Insurance DriveSAFE telematics program for driver safety, please contact Matthew Brandel [email protected] or Garret Baker [email protected].
Have a product or resource you want me to try in 2023 to share with IECRM members? Reach out and let me know if I can be a test pilot.
Marilyn Akers Stansbury
CEO
Independent Electrical Contractors – Rocky Mountain (IECRM)
11429 Pearl Street, Northglenn, CO 80233
Direct: 303.848.2513 | Office: 303.853.4886
[email protected] | www.iecrm.org
