Winter can be the most dangerous time of the year for employees who drive for work in BC. Employers and supervisors need to plan ahead and be prepared for the change in seasons to help keep drivers safe. Use our templates and other resources to reduce risk and protect your most valuable asset — your staff.
What employers and supervisors need to know
Any work-related driving puts employees at risk. Winter increases the risk, especially when drivers go too fast for the road and weather conditions. Nearly 40% of all work-related crashes resulting in injury and time off work occur from November through February in BC.
The highest-risk occupations, according to WorkSafeBC statistics, are:
- Transport truck drivers
- Delivery and courier service drivers
- Bus drivers, subway operators, and other transit operators
- Community health support services employees
Meeting your safety responsibilities
Employers are required to keep their employees safe when they drive for work. Supervisors have similar duties for employees who report directly to them. Make sure you know your responsibilities.
To help meet them at this time of year, address winter driving in your road safety plan. You’ll find a lot of the information you need in our What Employers Need to Know (PDF 1 MB) and What Supervisors Need to Know (PDF 177 KB) guides.
If you have vehicles over 5500 kg GVW, review our commercial carriers information.
Our guide for the community and home care sector (PDF 1 MB) suggests 4 steps employers can take to help keep employees safe while driving.
Identifying winter hazards and assessing risk
Hazard identification and risk assessment are the foundation of workplace safety. Start by figuring out the unique winter driving-related hazards that employees will most likely face. Remember to think about everyone on staff who drives, whether it’s a full-time delivery person or a sales rep seeing clients. It doesn’t matter whether they use their own vehicle or one owned by your organization.
Here are some of the common hazards your drivers may come across, and steps you can take to reduce the risks they create:
| Hazard |
Actions to eliminate hazard or reduce risk
|
Attitude and experience
- Complacent about winter driving
- Doesn’t perform a pre-trip inspection
- Less than 2 years of winter driving experience
|
- Reassign trip to more experienced drivers.
- Provide training.
- Review winter driving policies, procedures, hazards, and risk reduction with employee.
|
Impairment
- Stress, fatigue, illness
- Medication, drugs
- Poor vision
|
- Reassign trip to an employee who is fit to drive.
- Assess the risk for each driver. Support and intervene as required.
|
| Hazard |
Actions to eliminate hazard or reduce risk
|
Vehicle not ready for winter
- Winter tires not installed
- Winterization maintenance not completed
- Driving emergency kit not in vehicle
|
- Reschedule or reassign trip to drivers with a vehicle that is fully equipped for winter driving.
- Schedule a maintenance appointment to install winter tires and perform winterization.
- Put a vehicle emergency kit in trunk.
|
| Hazard |
Actions to eliminate hazard or reduce risk
|
Long hours
- Driving long distances
- Driving after a long shift
|
- Consider a different travel method (e.g., airplane or bus).
- Use journey management and trip planning to reduce hours spent behind the wheel.
- Schedule rest breaks every 2 hours.
- Assign a second driver to reduce risk of fatigue.
|
| Night driving |
- Reschedule to daytime hours.
- Ensure the driver is not fatigued.
- Assign a second driver.
- Ensure the driver knows how to operate lights and high beams.
|
Stranded
- Road closures
- Vehicle breakdown
- Extreme weather event
|
- Ensure the driver understands your emergency road safety procedures, including your check-in system and rules for working/driving alone.
- Ensure the vehicle has an emergency kit.
|
| Time constraints |
- Reschedule the trip so the driver doesn’t feel rushed.
- Revise the work schedule to ensure the driver has adequate time to safely complete the trip.
|
Urban roads
- Congestion
- Aggressive drivers
|
- Reroute to a less congested route.
- Remind drivers to reduce speed and leave at least 4 seconds of space between themselves and the vehicle ahead of them.
|
Route
- New route
- Unfamiliar route
|
- Reroute to a well-travelled road.
- Reassign driving to an employee with experience on the route.
|
Rural roads
- Isolated
- Poorly maintained
- Limited visibility and/or lighting
|
- Reroute to a well-travelled road.
- Ensure the vehicle is equipped with an emergency kit.
- Ensure drivers understand your working/driving alone procedure.
- Use a check-in system.
- Ensure the driver has phone or radio communication.
|
| Hazard |
Actions to eliminate hazard or reduce risk
|
Weather
- Changing conditions
- Blowing snow
- Freezing temperatures
- Fog
|
- Check weather and road conditions frequently and be ready to change your trip plan.
- Review emergency driving procedures so drivers know what to do in a crash or if they’re stranded.
|
Road
- Pooling water
- Black ice
- Slopes or steep grades
- Sharp bends
- Exposed bridges
- Low-lying roads
- Varying traction due to sun and shade
|
- Ensure the driver has the skills and training for the trip.
- Review road safety policies, procedures, hazards, and risk reduction with the driver.
- Plan routes on well-maintained roads and highways.
- Install winter tires and, if necessary, supply chains.
- Have a vehicle emergency kit.
- Review emergency driving procedures so drivers know what to do in a crash or if they’re stranded.
|
Developing policy and procedures
Once you understand the hazards and risks associated with the type of driving your employees do, put some safety guidelines in place to deal with them. Set safe driving expectations and supervise employees to make sure they’re being met.
We recommend you use our winter driving safety policy and procedures (DOC 76 KB) and safe work procedure (PDF 165 KB) templates. They can be adapted to suit organizations of any size.
Review our Policies and Procedures Tool Kit to learn more.
Training and educating drivers
Assessing drivers helps you understand whether they have the skills needed to safely complete the work you assign them. It’s important to review their winter driving skills. Drivers may be rusty since they haven’t been on icy or snowy roads for many months.
New and young workers need training and orientation. Experienced drivers need refreshers. Have them all review our Driving for the Conditions Tool Kit and Practical BC Winter Driving Tips webinar. Use our tailgate meeting guides (PDF 2 MB) at safety meetings to emphasize key driving safety points. The guides cover 8 different topics, from winter tire specifications to driving in poor weather conditions.
You want drivers to feel prepared. Make sure they:
- Have the equipment they need, such as winter tires and a vehicle emergency kit
- Have the winter driving training they need
- Understand and follow your policy and procedures for keeping them safe
- Know how to report a winter driving hazard
- Know how to determine whether driving for work is necessary
- Know what to do in an emergency or if they get stranded
- Have confidence in their winter driving skills
Employer Tool Kit
Winter driving safety requires year-round planning and execution. It starts with preparing drivers and vehicles before winter arrives. It continues with planning safe travel and monitoring drivers during the season. It finishes when winter is over, and you review your results to look for any improvements you can make for the next year. Use our winter driving safety planning calendar (PDF 541 KB) to help keep your organization on track.
Before winter
Start preparing about 2 to 3 months before winter conditions normally arrive. Waiting until snow or rain hits is too late.
Review policy, procedures
Review policies and procedures with employees. Make sure your guidelines cover everyone who drives for work — full time and part time workers, and those who only drive for work occasionally. Also, make sure your guidelines cover all vehicles — company-owned as well as personal vehicles that employees use on the job.
Review driving assignments
Dispatching drivers in winter requires a different approach than at other times of the year. The safest trip is one that never happens. So review the driving employees typically do. Is it all essential? Can you use technology or adjust schedules to reduce the need for driving?
If driving can’t be avoided, ensure your dispatchers and drivers evaluate current and projected weather and road conditions and review schedules accordingly. Identify the safest routes and use them. Schedule trips at the safest times of day. If possible, avoid early mornings and late afternoons and evenings as road conditions and visibility can be poor at those times.
Your procedures for trip planning (PDF 310 KB) could include delaying the trip, modifying routes and planning for emergencies, or adjusting driving assignments to meet hours of service requirements.
Have dispatchers increase the frequency of check-ins when driving risks are high.
Learn more about journey management and trip planning and give drivers our Do I Stay or Do I Go? brochure.
Vehicles should be winter-ready before the snow falls, rains start, or temperatures drop. Look at the last few years to see when winter conditions usually hit your area. Create a schedule to winterize vehicles 3 to 4 weeks before this date.
This also applies if your employees are using their own vehicles for work. You need to ensure that employee vehicles meet the same requirements as company vehicles when driven for work.
Winterizing begins with installing 4 matching winter tires. We recommend tires with the 3-peaked mountain/snowflake symbol. By law, tires need to have at least 3.5 mm of tread. Learn more about choosing winter tires.
Here are some other basic recommendations for winterizing a vehicle:
- Check the battery, brakes, cooling and heating systems, electrical and exhaust system, and belts and hoses to ensure they’re in good working order.
- Top up cooling fluid, oil levels, and windshield cleaning fluid.
- Equip it with tire chains or traction devices in good condition.
- Equip it with an emergency kit.
- Use winter windshield wiper blades.
It’s never too early to discuss winter driving safety. To help drivers feel more prepared for winter driving, you can:
- Including winter road safety topics in staff meetings
- Reviewing and completing our winter driving hazards form (PDF 571 KB) with them
- Having them demonstrate your safety procedures to prove they understand them
- Teaching them how and when to install tire chains, if needed
- Ensuring they have completed training, and schedule more if needed
- Requiring them to do trip planning
Setting road safety goals gives you a way to measure your progress. When it comes to winter driving, the main goal is to reduce the number of injuries, near-misses, and crashes in your organization.
You can also consider setting goals for the number and frequency of winter-related vehicle inspections, training sessions, and safety messages you share with your drivers.
During winter
Once winter hits, you need to monitor and supervise drivers to ensure they’re following their training and your procedures.
Use journey management and trip planning to look for alternatives to driving, because the safest trip is one that never happens. Can employees do the work over the phone on a video call? If not, and the weather and road conditions are poor, can the trip be rescheduled?
It’s not always possible to avoid driving. In those cases, work with the driver to create a trip plan, including assessing driving hazards and road and weather conditions. Together, review safe driving and emergency procedures. Build extra time into their schedule to allow them to safely complete their drive.
Before drivers get behind the wheel, require them to do a pre-trip inspection and record the results. Have them confirm that the vehicle is suitable for the road and weather conditions. Also ensure that the vehicle has the required safety equipment. Apply the same requirements to drivers who use their personal vehicle for work. Supervise vehicle inspections and do spot checks.
No matter how experienced your drivers are, they always benefit from reminders about winter driving safety. They’ll also be more likely to take ownership of it if you ask for their feedback and suggestions. Ask about any near-misses they’ve had or new hazards they’ve faced. Ask what challenges they’re having complying with your policy and procedures.
If they’re driving an unfamiliar vehicle or a new route, make sure they have the proper training. You may need to provide a refresher course. Make sure winter driving is covered in your orientation for new and young employees.
It’s also your responsibility to make sure drivers know their rights and responsibilities, including the right to refuse unsafe work.
After winter
Winter safe driving planning doesn’t end when the weather improves. This is the time for you to review, strengthen, and improve your policies and procedures for next year.
- What worked and what didn’t?
- Are there new hazards you need to plan for?
- Did your drivers have appropriate tires, equipment, and emergency kits?
- Did you do any near-miss or crash investigations that recommended changes in your procedures?
- How did your crash and injury statistics compare with previous years?
If you see an opportunity to improve your winter road safety plan, commit to it and set a target date for completion. Aim to have it in place well before the next winter driving season.
Here are some other steps you can take:
- Identify employees who need more training, and set a schedule for training.
- Schedule post-winter maintenance on all vehicles used for work, including ones owned by employees.
- Explore options for reducing the need for driving next season.
- Identify road safety champions among your staff who may take a leadership role in your efforts.
Some ideas for improvement may require a financial investment. This could include anything from installing new tires, to training, to communication tools such as guides for drivers.
Include these items in the coming year’s budget to ensure the money will be available when needed. If you’re a supervisor and need approval from your employer, review the benefits of road safety planning to help you make your case.
Resources
Tool Kit
Identifying road and driving hazards is the first step to avoiding them. Get the tools and templates to identify potential hazards for your company drivers.
Tool Kit
Policies and procedures help keep workers safe and prevent crashes by reducing risk. Use our templates to create your own road safety policies and procedures.
Tool Kit
Employers must ensure anyone driving for their business is doing so legally and safely. Use our driver assessment tool kit to assess and orient your drivers.
Webinar
Winter driving requires more planning, equipment, and patience. Apply these easy-to-follow tips when driving for work or personal reasons.
Tool Kit
No matter how much experience you have, driving in snow, rain, fog, or icy conditions can be treacherous. Use our tips to help you and your passengers get home safe.
Tool Kit
Driving for work may be one of the most dangerous things your employees do. Journey management can help reduce the risks.
Online Course
Learn how to plan, implement, and monitor a winter driving safety program in your organization using Shift into Winter resources, including policy and procedures templates.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to lead a discussion with employees about anticipating and safely responding to winter road conditions.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to lead a discussion with employees about driving safely in foggy conditions.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to lead a discussion with employees about safe driving tips for wet roads.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to lead a discussion with employees about steps they can take to help avoid crashing when snow is on the road.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to lead a discussion with drivers about keeping themselves safe in winter conditions.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to lead a discussion with employees about 5 tips for safer driving when roads are icy.
Tailgate Meeting Guide
Use this guide to explain employee safety responsibilities when using a personal vehicle for work purposes.
Winter Driving: What Employers Need to Know
Winter Driving: What Supervisors Need to Know
Winter Driving: Are Your Community and Home Care Workers Prepared?
Winter Driving Policy and Procedures Template
Safe Work Procedure (SWP) for Winter Driving
Winter Driving Safety Planning Calendar
Do I Stay or Do I Go? Plan Your Trip for a Safe Winter Ride brochure
Vehicle Emergency Kit Checklist
Winter Driving Survival Checklist
Winter Tips for Truck Drivers
Winter Tips for Truck Drivers
Winterizing Your Safety Plan: Information for Commercial Carriers
