Are corporations operating vehicle fleets doing enough for the safety of their drivers? Or, can they do more?

Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor Gerard Scannell thinks a better effort needs to be made to safeguard fleet drivers, particularly since 39 percent of all occupational fatalities are vehicle-related.

Scannell, who is also the head of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), has authored a proposed vehicle safety rule which will be published this spring as an official "proposal" in the Federal Register. Soon thereafter, public hearings will he conducted, and corporations will be on invited to offer input.

When news of the OSHA proposal surfaced recently a group of representatives from the National Association of Fleet Administrators met with Scannell to discuss the issue. What produced the quick response? While business acknowledges the need for greater safety, its concerns stern from rules which it may support in theory, but the implementation of which may he prohibitively expensive, or impractical to administer.

Recently, Automotive Fleet obtained a copy of the original draft, which was not intended for public distribution, from a Washington, D.C., source. Subsequently, an interview was conducted with Scannell ,who is the former vice chairman of the National Safety Council and the former Johnson & Johnson director of corporate health and safety .about his views, concerns, and vehicle safety goals.

AF: Isn't part of the resistance by fleets to extensive driver safety programs due to expense?

Scannell: That's right. Safety training of people - unless it's in an environment where you've got control, such as worker safety in a factory - is a very difficult thing to justify, and prove that it's good. So, OSHA probably will not be too specific in these (proposed) driver training standards, except for safety belts. There will be some motivational-behavioral programs to get people to buckle up, but basically it will stop there.

However, we will raise the issue in our proposed standards to get people to tell us about what else is needed in a good motor vehicle safety standard.

In my experience, though, if you just train people behind the wheel, you'll get a downward blip in your accident rate chart. But it just doesn't stick. So, in the corporate world you've got to have more than just behind-the-wheel training. You've got to have some specialized training for your (drivers). In any event, it's a tough sell.

AF: Did you sell Johnson & Johnson on a driver safety training program when you worked for them?

Scannell: Oh, yes. I sold it to them. But I had to sell more than just behind-the-wheel training. I sold the motivational training, too. And it paid off. We designed it for the J&J system because anytime you personalize something you get better results.

AF: Since it's well-established that hard-sell organizations create a lot of anxiety - increasing the probability of accidents - do you think a driver training standard will produce enough corporate accountability to change that pressure cooker atmosphere, or is there really another component needed here?

Scannell: When I say "accountability," it's pre-supposing that all the other elements are in place such as training and education. You just can't say we're not going to have any more accidents. Early on at J&J, that's exactly what happened. People thought, "We can do this, no problem. Just tell everyone, drive safely and don't have any accidents." They found out it doesn't work. You've got to provide the support - training and education.

AF: When did your interest in safety develop?

Scannell: I really don't know. But someone once told me that I became interested in safety when I was in the Navy and diffused a Sidewinder missile.

AF: Are you joking?

Scannell: No. It had never been done before in the launch position. Somebody had to do it. Thai's when the commanding officer of the naval air station, said, "Scannell, you did the impossible, so we're going to make you safety officer of this base." I said, "Look, I don't know anything about safety!" But he said, "Don't worry, we'll teach you."

AF: Given your strong background in safety, what would you like to see happen as a result of your OSHA proposal on driver training standards?

Scannell: I already knew the data said 39 percent of all occupational fatalities occur in vehicles. So, when I looked at my goals and objectives, I said, "My God, we're working on all sorts of issues here in OSHA that will save lives, injuries and amputations - all of which are extremely important - but here's an opportunity to make a major impact in reducing fatalities." So, my goal is to reduce occupational fatalities to whatever is achievable. Zero would be great, but that's not reality.

AF: Are there any aspects of the proposal that are cast in concrete, or are you wide open to the input of corporate fleet representatives during the hearing process?

Scannell: I'm hoping for lots of input. There's no (national) data to prove safety works. What helps? Inspecting a vehicle before you drive it? Or, maintenance? We don't have any data that says if you have better maintenance, you'll have fewer accidents. I'm hoping that people out there have some of that data, that they can say, "We tried it at our company and it works." I have no preconceived idea of what the standards should be. I do know, however, that we should focus in on the most important thing, and that is to buckle up.

AF: Do you think fleet managers of the major corporations in America will come up with some innovative, productive ideas, because they realize how serious you are about vehicle safety in the workplace?

Scannell: I hope so. I met with the people from NAFA recently. They had some misconceptions of what my goals were, but we got those ironed out, so we're in synch now.

AF: Are they going to wait until the hearings, or begin offering input sooner?

Scannell: The (driver training) standard will be wide open on a number of issues, so they'll be able to feed us a lot of information. Besides, I told them that if the hearing develops issues which we haven't even thought of - things that make sense, compelling issues - then we'll go right back and rework it. So, this is probably just the beginning.

AF: What are the key elements of the proposed rule?

Scannell: The key element will be to buckle up on company business. The other elements will have to do with training - motivational programs that will change behavior - so that people buckle up.

AF: Do you think there will be a strong reaction to training programs due to cost considerations?

Scannell: No, I really don't think so. I think we (OSHA) are being reasonable in what we think the standards should be.

AF: What kind of time frame are we looking at to take this from proposal to law?

Scannell: It depends on how many hearings we have, but I hope to have the final standard out this year.