Tool Kit
Driver Orientation and Training
Don’t assume an employee has the driving competencies they need just because they have a valid driver’s licence. Learn the steps to take when hiring, orienting, and training drivers to help them safely do the driving you assign them.
Make driving skills part of hiring
Many jobs you’re hiring for will include driving for work. Examples include staff making occasional trips between job sites or to visit clients, and part-time or full-time drivers making deliveries. Make sure the process you use to choose the best applicant considers their driving knowledge, abilities, and experience.
Here are a few ways to do that:
Make sure the people involved in hiring gather relevant driving information from applicants. Confirm that applicants have the required class of driver’s licence. Ask candidates to include a copy of their driver’s abstract with their application.
Some of the questions you can ask include:
- What types of vehicles have they operated?
- How much driving experience do they have, and how will it help them operate your work vehicles?
- Have they ever been involved in an at-fault crash?
- What previous driver training have they completed?
- Do they consider themself a good driver? If they say “Yes,” ask them to explain what makes them a good driver. If they answer “No,” find out why.
- How do they deal with the frustrations of heavy traffic, the challenges of winter driving, etc.?
Phone their references and discuss the kinds of driving the candidate did. How well did they meet their past employer’s expectations?
If driving is going to be a big part of their new job, find out about each candidate’s driving skills and behaviours before you hire them. Use our SkillCheck tool to evaluate their driving. Do the ride along in a vehicle and on a route that match the driving they will do in their new job. You can also hire a third-party driving instructor to do the assessment.
Conduct thorough driver orientations
Before a worker starts a new job or is assigned new responsibilities, their employer is required to provide a thorough health and safety orientation. That includes orienting the employee to their driving duties and the vehicles they will drive for work.
Orientations are particularly important for young workers who have limited driving experience. Even experienced employees benefit from another orientation when they’re:
- Asked to drive a new or different vehicle
- Assigned a new route or schedule
- Exposed to hazards they haven’t encountered before, such as winter driving
- Returning to the workplace after being absent for more than 6 months
If the orientation reveals the employee can’t do the assigned driving, their employer needs to provide appropriate additional training. Learn more about employer responsibilities.
Safety regulations define a young worker as anyone under 25. A new worker can be any age and includes those who are:
- New to the workplace or location
- Exposed to new hazards, such as construction, on their normal driving route
- Using new equipment, like a different vehicle
- Exposed to conditions they have not worked in before, such as snow and ice
Young and new workers have a higher risk of workplace incidents because they may lack:
- Experience
- Training, orientation, and supervision
- Understanding and preparation for their workplace or job
They may also be exposed to more dangerous jobs and feel unsure about asking questions.
It’s part of your employer responsibilities to provide a health and safety orientation and training. Both should be specific to an employee’s workplace. A vehicle used for work is also a workplace, even if the employee is using their personal vehicle.
Checklist, procedures for orientation
Especially for new hires, a thorough driver orientation is your first and best opportunity to explain what’s expected when they’re driving for work, and how to meet those expectations. It’s also a good time for you to answer their questions.
Depending on the driving tasks, a thorough orientation can involve several steps. Sometimes, you can do all of them in one sitting but often it will take a few interactive sessions to cover all the bases.
Review their driver’s licence and record for any restrictions that would stop them from doing the type of driving needed for their job. For example, check they have the right endorsement for towing a heavy trailer. Make photocopies of their documents for your records.
Tell drivers about the hazards they may come across while driving for work. Ask if they understand the risks and how to manage them. Get them to ride with an experienced driver before they make a trip on their own. Use our RiskCheck tool in the Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Tool Kit.
Review your safe driving policies and procedures. Give new and young workers a copy and make more copies available. Explain employee safety rights and responsibilities, including the right to refuse unsafe work.
Make sure your employee is familiar and comfortable with all aspects of their vehicle. Use our Driving for Work Tool Kit to show them how to adjust the driver’s seat and mirrors. Show them how to use all the vehicle parts properly. This may include gears, safety features, trailers, and equipment like a 2-way radio, winch or load securing device.
Check your employee’s driving skills with a ride-along assessment. You need to know if their skills and behaviour are suitable before they do any driving for work.
Orientation and training give employees a lot of information. They probably won’t be able to remember everything. To help them, you could do a series of sessions instead of one in-depth orientation. Your new hire will have questions and need clarity either way. Schedule a meeting afterwards to go over things.
Use our fillable driver orientation checklist (PDF 358KB) to make sure you cover the main points with your employee. The first few pages identify the key points for orienting drivers (e.g., hazards and procedures). The last 3 pages provide instructions to guide you through the process. As you work through each orientation, check the boxes and hang on to the completed form for your records.
Also download our Driver Orientation Procedures Template (27KB DOC) and edit it to suit your organization’s needs.
Provide effective driver training
Most drivers think they are better than average. But nearly every driver has room to improve their driving abilities — even the good drivers. Employers have the opportunity, and responsibility, to provide training that helps employees build safer driving behaviours. It can help prevent them from being involved in a crash while driving for work.
Check our events calendar to see when you can register for our next Improving Driver Behaviours Workshop.
Here are a few training options:
ICBC offers two online road safety tests. One is a practice knowledge test. The other focuses on road signs. Drivers can review the Learn to Drive Smart manual to prepare for the tests.
There are many other driver improvement courses on the web. Some are stand-alone courses that focus on a particular topic like winter driving, reversing, or aggressive driving. Others are comprehensive driver training that employers can use as part of their ongoing driver training program.
Have your staff try some of our driving-related quizzes. They take only a few minutes to complete. Your employees can also review our Driving for Work Tool Kit.
You and your staff can watch our recorded webinars. You’ll learn how to reduce the risks associated with distracted driving, fatigue, wildlife collisions, cargo securement, and other hazards. Each webinar runs for less than an hour.
Use our tailgate meeting guides to guide crew discussions about safe driving. Offer ideas that staff can discuss and ask them to share their experiences and solutions. Encourage them to make small adjustments to their driving.
This is a great way to share practical advice, and the casual atmosphere engages employees. Use our road safety tool kits for tips you can include in short presentations. Encourage discussion and questions. Add some impact by having a demonstration in a nearby cordoned-off parking lot.
Coaching conversations are an important tool that managers, supervisors, and co-workers should use to share driving knowledge or explain driving practices to employees. Whether they’re scheduled discussions or ad hoc instructions, timely coaching contributes to building safe driving behaviours.
Like coaching, mentoring works well with new and young drivers as well as experienced drivers. For new hires, team them up with a safe, experienced driver who shows them what they need to know and do. Encourage the trainee to ask plenty of questions. After a few days, have the trainee demonstrate what they’ve learned.
Mentoring is also an important continuous improvement tool. Even experienced drivers benefit from spending time in a vehicle with a mentor. Watching how a mentor drives, discussing practices and maneuvers, and refreshing old skills or learning new ones helps overcome poor driving habits. It can help ensure employee driving behaviours match your expectations.
The Justice Institute of British Columbia has a lot of experience in assessing and training drivers through its driver education and road safety courses. You can also hire a driver training school.
Review training regularly
Your driver training program needs to keep pace with changing vehicles, equipment, and driving situations in your workplace. Check it each year to confirm that the training provides drivers with the knowledge and skills they need.
Driving skills are perishable. It is surprising how quickly driving knowledge and skills get rusty if they aren’t used regularly. Even though your employees may have had a winter driving refresher last fall, they will probably benefit from another one next fall.
People also change. Even though an employee shows you they have and apply the driving behaviours you expect this year, complacency can cause good driving behaviours to fade into poor driving habits. Regular reminders and periodic training can help correct those issues.
Vehicle, routes, schedules, and driving circumstances change too, sometimes daily. The changes might seem small on their own. But before long, you might be expecting employees to drive in situations and deal with hazards that are unfamiliar.
Review your driver improvement program annually to make sure it is achieving its objectives and keeping up with the evolution of your staff, vehicles, and driving assignments.