The more expensive your average claim is, the more you’ll have to pay in premiums and out of your deductible. One of the most effective ways you can reduce your average cost of claims is to go above and beyond compliance, thereby helping you avoid the nuclear claims associated with the industry-wide skyrocketing rates.
Though it may seem difficult to surpass your current compliance efforts, fortunately, there are three actions you might not be doing that any fleet can take right now:
#1. Beat Your BASICs
If you’re a hazardous materials carrier, the intervention threshold for the crash indicator BASIC is 60%. Keeping your BASIC below 60% will keep you out of trouble with the FMCSA, but you can take your safety a step further and set your fleet’s internal intervention threshold to 40%.
By conducting reviews of your processes and implementing new training when you approach 40%, instead of the regulatory standard of 60%, your liability in the event of a crash will go down because of your heightened standard of care.
#2. Use an Expiration Tracking System
In one of Idelic’s most recent webinars, Modern Transportation President, Patrick Cozzens, explained that despite testing and licensing center closures due to COVID-19, his fleet of over 350 drivers never had an issue falling behind on their credential expirations. Why? Modern automated their expiration alerts using the Expirations Module in Safety Suite® to receive notifications 90, 60, and 30 days before a credential expired.
By automating your fleet’s expiration alerts, you can reduce your liability and never have to worry about a claim’s cost exploding because your driver’s credentials weren’t compliant.
#3. Consider Your Hiring Criteria Against Known Risk Factors
Qualifications like holding a CDL and meeting medical criteria only represent the bare minimum of compliance standards required to become a driver. Fleets seeking to reduce their average cost of claims can set a higher standard when hiring drivers.
As an example, ARL Transport requires each driver to have at least two years of relevant driving experience, to have never failed a drug test, and to not have any DOT reportable incidents in the past year. This helps ensure that they are putting experienced and qualified drivers that have demonstrated safe practices behind the wheel, which helps mitigate the cost of their claims.
The Tool You Need to Get the Job Done
To implement these changes and reduce your insurance costs, you need the right tool for the job. Safety Suite® is the trucking industry’s premier driver management platform and is the #1 tool for fleets seeking to go above and beyond compliance.
With Safety Suite, all your fleet’s systems are consolidated under a single platform, allowing you to conduct your training, risk management, and safety processes in one place.
Some of the best ways to go above and beyond compliance are to set data-driven standards for intervention, stay ahead of your expirations, and elevate your fleet’s hiring practices. Watch a 2-minute demo to see how Safety Suite is the only tool that helps you do all three.