Safety is Rollins LLC’s first priority. The pest control company focuses on keeping its employees safe while working, and keeping them aware of the hazards that exist in the numerous environments where they service customers.
One of the major safety challenges Rollins employees face every day is driving to customers’ homes and businesses. With a fleet of nearly 10,000 employees driving 218 million miles each year, eliminating driving distractions and improving driving skills is vital. In 2017, Rollins Learning worked with the IT, Risk Management, and Safety departments to create an accountability ecosystem that promotes safer driving practices. This multi-pronged attack included deploying an e-learning curriculum, teaching managers how to conduct driving audits and coach accordingly, and leveraging GPS/telematics installed in fleet vehicles.
Program Details
All new hires must complete an online interactive assessment within two weeks of hire. It identifies each driver’s performance gaps and assigns monthly lessons to address them. Rollins found that employees who adhered to the monthly due dates were 43 percent less likely to be involved in a vehicle accident.
In 2018, tenured sales, service, and management employees were assigned six targeted training modules that focused on the top causes of vehicle incidents among Rollins drivers such as rear-end collisions. Modules were assigned on an every-other-month basis, and employees had 60 days to complete each assignment. Monthly compliance reports were sent out to each Rollins brand. Managers “pulled” the keys of employees who failed to complete the assignments on time. Some 97 percent of employees were compliant in the last 12 months.
Rollins Learning worked with Safety to install a structured defensive driving program that promotes safe driving practices. Managers were required to conduct at least two “driving audits” each week. Rollins created a safe driving checklist managers use to identify weakness in their employees’ driving behaviors. The program also provides prompts to help managers coach their employees to correct these problems.
A GPS Driver Scorecard was created to identify employees who do not follow safe driving practices. The GPS units in Rollins’ fleet vehicles automatically record when someone drives faster than 71 mph, brakes too harshly, does not put on his or her seat belt, or fails to back into a parking space. A backing event is recorded when the first action after ignition is to put the vehicle in reverse and back up at least 15 feet. Rollins recognizes you can’t always back into a parking spot, so 50 backing events are allowed over one month. Employees can lose their keys if they have too many violations. Any time a GPS violation occurs, the manager must complete a Coaching form and place it in the employee’s file. Rollins Learning developed a program instructing managers on how to complete the form and coach their employees to better performance. The Internal Audit department now runs a report of GPS violations and requires proof of these completed forms during field inspections. Finally, these types of chargeable accidents now prevent employees and their managers from attending the annual President’s Club recognition event.
Results
In 2018, Rollins had more employees driving 825,000 more miles than they did in 2017. However:
- Auto accidents declined by 17.8 percent.
- Rear-end collisions declined by 11.2 percent.
- Auto claims decreased by $285,000.
- Accident Frequency Ratio (AFR) decreased by 23 percent.
