Protecting your Employees with Dash Cams

Posted by Steadfast Entities on

If you run a construction company, odds are that you and your crews spend a lot of time on the road.

Companies depend on their fleets to transport workers, equipment, and materials safely and efficiently. With increasing emphasis on safety and accountability, many construction businesses are considering adding dash cams to their vehicles. While these cameras can provide valuable insights, they also come with some challenges.

Here’s a look at the pros and cons to help you decide if dash cams are right for your business.

PROS of Dash Cams in Construction Company Vehicles

Enhanced Safety Monitoring

  • Driver Behavior Tracking: Dash cams offer a way to monitor driving habits in real time. They can help identify and correct risky behaviors, such as speeding, harsh braking, and distracted driving, ultimately leading to safer driving practices.
  • Accident Prevention and Analysis: In case of an accident, footage from dash cams provides valuable insight into what happened. This can help improve training for drivers by highlighting preventable mistakes and enhancing company-wide safety protocols.

Protection Against False Claims

  • Evidence in Legal Disputes: Construction vehicles can be large and difficult to maneuver, which can lead to higher accident rates and insurance claims. With dash cam footage, you’ll have concrete evidence to defend against false claims or exaggerated damages.
  • Improved Insurance Rates: Some insurers offer discounts to companies with dash cams because they reduce the risk of fraud and false claims, making dash cams a potential cost-saving investment.

Enhanced Accountability and Efficiency

  • Fleet Management Insights: Dash cams can be paired with GPS data to monitor routes, idle times, and stops. These insights can improve route planning, reduce fuel costs, and increase productivity, especially in high traffic areas.
  • Employee Accountability: Dash cams can encourage employees to stay on task, especially if they know their actions are being recorded. This can lead to more responsible driving and fewer personal stops, maximizing productivity.

Support for On-the-Job Documentation

  • Monitoring Site Access: Dash cams in construction vehicles can help document job site conditions and verify access routes, which can be valuable for reviewing logistics or confirming site arrivals and departures.
  • Incident Documentation: For jobs where construction vehicles interact closely with equipment and people on-site, dash cams can provide documentation if equipment damage, theft, or site accidents occur.

CONS of Dash Cams in Construction Company Vehicles

Privacy Concerns for Drivers

  • Employee Trust Issues: Some drivers may feel uncomfortable with constant monitoring, which could impact morale and trust. It’s important to communicate openly about why the cameras are being used and to focus on safety rather than micromanagement.
  • Legal and Compliance Considerations: Depending on where you operate your business, employee monitoring laws may restrict the use of dash cams, or you may need to inform drivers and obtain consent. Failing to address these requirements could lead to legal issues for your company.

Potential for Misinterpretation

  • Lack of Context: Dash cam footage may not always tell the whole story. Without understanding road conditions, nearby obstacles, or why a driver made a particular maneuver, managers could misinterpret what they see on the footage. This highlights the need for comprehensive reviews and conversations with drivers about incidents captured on camera.
  • Focus on Minor Infractions: While dash cams are helpful for spotting risky behavior, they might also capture minor infractions that don’t reflect actual safety risks. Focusing too much on small mistakes could discourage drivers or create an overly critical work environment.

Upfront and Maintenance Costs

  • Initial Purchase and Installation Costs: Depending on the type and number of dash cams, installation and setup can be a significant upfront investment. Higher-quality dash cams with features like GPS tracking, cloud storage, and wide-angle lenses tend to be more expensive.
  • Ongoing Maintenance and Data Storage: Dash cams require regular maintenance to ensure proper functioning, and footage must be stored. Cloud storage options provide easy access, but monthly fees can add up, especially for large fleets. Factor in these costs when considering the long-term financial impact.

Increased Management Complexity

  • Monitoring Footage: Reviewing footage from all vehicles can be time-consuming. Construction companies may need to allocate personnel to monitor, manage, and analyze data, which adds another layer of operational oversight.
  • Balancing Benefits with Administrative Load: For companies that manage multiple sites and dozens of vehicles, the additional data from dash cams can be overwhelming. Clear policies about when and why footage will be reviewed can help keep things manageable.

Weighing Your Decision

Dash cams can be a valuable addition to a construction company’s fleet, offering benefits like improved safety, accountability, and protection against claims. However, they also come with challenges, including privacy concerns, costs, and potential management complexity. If your company prioritizes safety, transparency, and effective fleet management, dash cams can be an asset. However, if your fleet is smaller or if you lack the resources for consistent monitoring and maintenance, you’ll have to carefully consider whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

The decision ultimately depends on the specific needs and structure of your construction company. Whether you choose to install dash cams or not, remember you’ll always benefit from open communication with drivers and establishing clear safety guidelines that will contribute to a safer and more productive work environment.

Need something bigger than a dash cam for your next project? Steadfast Entities, LLC, is proud to offer state-of-the-art heavy equipment rentals, available when you need them at the best prices.

Let’s connect to get your next project done faster, better, and with more money in your pocket.

Why OSHA?

Posted by Steadfast Entities on

What is OSHA?

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration, or OSHA, was introduced “to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance”. 

While OSHA sometimes gets a bad reputation for their numerous requirements and steep fines for noncompliance, they have decreased the number of workplace illnesses, injuries, and fatalities by over 80% since their inception in the early 1970s. 

Costly Violations

OSHA creates enforcement policies and targeted inspection programs, and responds to fatalities, catastrophes, and complaints. If they find a company is not in compliance with their safety standards, they can face serious financial penalties ranging from $14,502 to $145,027 per violation. For 2021,  the most common violations from around the country were: 

  1. Fall Protection (5,271 violations)
  2. Respiratory Protection (2,521 violations)
  3. Ladders (2,018 violations)
  4. Scaffolding (1,943 violations)
  5. Hazard Communication (1,939 violations)
  6. Lockout/Tagout (1,670 violations)
  7. Fall Protection Training Requirements (1,660 violations)
  8. Eye and Face Protection (1,451 violations)
  9. Powered Industrial Trucks (1,404 violations)
  10. Machine Guarding (1,105 violations)

Protecting Workers

OSHA reviews worker safety in many types of industries, including construction, general industry, maritime, agriculture, and the federal sector. The largest OSHA fine in history was issued to BP Products North America, Inc. in 2005 in the amount of $87 million, after an explosion at a Texas refinery killed 15 people and injured another 170. 

Unfortunately, unsafe working environments can still be a problem today.

  • In 2021, a water utilities construction company in Boston was fined almost $1.3 million after two workers were struck by a dump truck and pushed into a nine foot trench, causing their deaths.
  • An aluminum parts manufacturer had a history of repeated safety violations, and was fined $1.2 million after a worker was hit and killed by a machine’s barrier door.
  • And a grain facility in Wisconsin was fined over $676,000 after the engulfment death of a corn silo manager. These tragic accidents highlight the continued importance of OSHA in maintaining safe work environments for employees. 

At Steadfast Entities, LLC, we make safety a priority. We are signatory with The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 542, who employs a rigorous training program for all equipment operators.

Once assigned to a Steadfast project, they are further trained on our specialized equipment.  By combining modern, reliable equipment with well trained, top-tier employees, we ensure a satisfying customer experience and safe, happy workers.

Contact us about your project today: jhworthy@steadfastentities.com