STEP 2
Establish Workplace Expectations
What?
A workplace policy can be an effective way to establish workplace expectations. Reducing distracted driving in the workplace may involve creating a new policy or revising an existing one. Making the decision to develop a new policy should be carefully considered, keeping a few important things in mind:
- Policies are meant to apply broadly across the organization. They should apply to everyone, so they need to fit the broadest possible audience.
- Policies are meant to be consistently followed. Consistency reduces the likelihood of supervisors or managers treating each situation or person uniquely.
- Once adopted, a policy should act as a declaration of the organization’s culture. Education about the policy is critical. Referring to the policy often increases its effectiveness.
Why?
Policies Change Behavior – Commitment Beyond Compliance:
- Compliance – Employees comply so they can avoid negative consequences or receive positive rewards.
- Commitment – Employees believe in and do their part to create a safe, responsible workplace culture.
- A workplace policy establishes the expectations for safe, responsible workplace behaviors and defines the consequences for behaving outside of those expectations. Most individuals seek to avoid the negative consequences of NOT following the policy and choose to comply.
The following section includes valuable ideas for creating and implementing a distracted driving policy, including:
- Guidance on forming a workplace policy team.
- Tools to guide a policy team.
- Using a layered approach to create a distracted driving policy.
Changing Driving Behavior in the Workplace
Research has shown that workplace policies can support positive behavior changes when they are communicated effectively through training and education. To be effective, training should teach employees why such policies are being established and provide an opportunity to connect employee values with the intention of the policy.
Ideally, employees will support the values behind the policy. This will result in greater commitment to the policy. For example, most employees value their safety and the safety of their coworkers. Therefore, they will follow the policy not just to avoid the negative consequences, but also because they are committed to safety.
A workplace policy should ensure compliance with safe, responsible behaviors and create a culture of commitment around safety and responsibility.
There are several things you can do to achieve compliance AND commitment for a workplace policy on distracted driving.
- Form a workplace policy team to help create the policy and guide its implementation.
- Provide relevant education to employees about the new policy.
- Offer reinforcements and reminders to encourage safe, responsible driving behaviors.
- Promote speaking up when people violate the policy.
Create and Implement Workplace Policies
An effective workplace policy that reduces distracted driving should include the following priorities:
Drivers never drive distracted—to protect their life and safety and the safety of passengers and bystanders. Potential distracting behaviors should include more than just cell phone use.
Passengers and even those not in a vehicle (like people calling from the office to someone who is potentially driving) should recognize their potential role in distracting a driver. Speak up to remind a driver who is distracted to focus on the driving task.
Employees should encourage coworkers, friends, and family not to drive distracted.
Washington Distracted Driving Law
In creating and implementing a workplace policy, it is important to understand current distracted driving laws. In Washington, it is against the law to use your cell phone while you are driving.
The laws explicitly include both text-based communications and talking on the phone while driving without appropriate hands-free devices.
Washington’s Distracted Driving Law also acknowledges that a wide variety of other behaviors could distract a driver and result in dangerous distracted driving. An officer can cite a driver for engaging in any activity not related to the actual operation of the motor vehicle and in a manner that interferes with its safe operation. See: https://wadrivetozero.com/distracted-driving/ for more information about the laws.
Team Approach Facilitates Change
Larger Workplaces
For larger workplaces, using a team approach will lead to a better policy and better adoption. A policy team is a group of individuals, each with different roles and perspectives in the organization, who have support from the organization’s leadership. They come together to create and champion a workplace policy that grows the behaviors you want to focus on — in this case, distracted driving.
- WHY?
Workplace safety is a team effort. A team will help you consider the most important ideas to include in a workplace policy, brainstorm ways to best provide education, and help gain buy-in for the policy. Current work processes may include engaging in distracting behaviors. The team will need to understand and address these issues and seek to identify adjustments in processes to reduce distracting behaviors.
- WHO?
If you are a large organization, you may have employees divided into various departments or divisions. Identify 5 to 10 people, or ideally one person from each department or division, to be part of the team. Consider the right mix of managers, supervisors, and front-line employees, length of time with the company, gender, and age.
If you are a small organization, you may not have enough employees to build a policy team. You may have one or two people who think through the different perspectives that a team would represent.
- WHEN?
Identify and bring your policy team together early in the process. As you begin considering a workplace policy on distracted driving, invite a team to discuss the idea and share input. Input throughout the whole process can result in a stronger policy that is more likely to be implemented and have buy-in from staff.
- HOW?
Organizing a workplace policy team may involve at least three meetings.
Meeting One
Will introduce the workplace needs and priorities for reducing distracted driving and gain feedback on the impact a policy will have in the workplace (a policy should be drafted after this first meeting).
Meeting Two
Will focus on team impressions of the policy, collecting feedback, and sharing ideas for deploying and communicating the policy to the organization.
Meeting Three
Will occur after the policy has been in place for 3 - 6 months and will include a policy review.
Policy Considerations
When considering a policy on distracted driving, simply banning mobile devices is one route to consider. But, it is not the only way. There are many layers that grow a culture of safety in the workplace.
- Elimination: Which distractions can be completely eliminated from the workplace?
- Substitution: Can substitutions be made that would remove or reduce distractions?
- Engineered Controls: How can an employee be isolated from the distraction?
- Administrative Controls: What interventions can educate and outline consequences?
For example:
- Elimination – Which distractions can be completely eliminated from the workplace?
What if mobile devices were banned from the workplace? What impact would it have on employee productivity, employee satisfaction, or customer service? - Substitution – Are there substitutions to make that would remove or reduce distractions?
Instead of using mobile phones, what other systems of communication could be implemented? What impact would those substitutions have on employees? Are there benefits to using something other than mobile phones that we are missing? - Engineered Controls – How can an employee be isolated from the distraction? Are there apps, programs, or devices that can keep mobile devices from distracting a driver? What are the costs and benefits to using those controls in the workplace?
- Administrative Controls – What interventions can be used?
What needs to be included in the policy and education that grows “engaged driving” (driving that avoids all forms of distraction) and responsible use of mobile devices in our workplace?
These examples above focus on mobile devices, but these questions could be asked of other distracting behaviors as well.
Other policy considerations:
- Does the policy assign the driver the responsibility to always be engaged and not distracted? An engaged driver not only avoids potentially distracting behaviors but is committed to fully attending to the driving task.
- Does the policy make clear that a supervisor or manager is expected to enforce the policy?
- Does the policy make clear the consequences for driving distracted?
- Does the policy apply to ALL staff anytime they are conducting company business?
- Does the policy include the role of non-drivers in preventing distracted driving? For example, what is the responsibility of a supervisor when calling an employee if the employee is driving? Is it acceptable (or expected) for employees to participate in conference calls while driving?
- Does the policy encourage safe, responsible driving while not doing company business (e.g., when the employee is not at work)?
Step 2 Tools
- Tool 2A. Policy Team Roster
- Tool 2B. Workplace Policy Team Invitation Email
- Tool 2C. Workplace Policy Team Meeting 1 Outline
- Tool 2D. Workplace Policy Team Meeting 2 Outline
- Tool 2E. Workplace Policy Team Meeting 3 Outline
- Tool 2F. Workplace Policy Team Follow-Up Email
- Example policies from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC), the National Safety Council (NSC), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are included in Tool 2G Sample Policies.
DISCLAIMER:The policies provided are examples. They should not be interpreted as legal advice for your workplace. All policies should be created with your unique workplace in mind and reviewed by your own policy advisors or legal counsel.
Key Terms for Workplace Distracted Driving Policies
Company business: Any situation where an employee is performing tasks on behalf of their employer.
Hands-free device: A mobile device that can be operated through voice command, often through a wireless or Bluetooth connection and integrated into the vehicle.
Hand-held device: A mobile device that is operated while holding the phone in hand and operating it through pressing buttons or a touch screen.
Mobile device: Any portable communication device including, but not limited to, mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers.
Employer-owned or Employee-owned device: Employees may conduct company business on devices that are either employer-owned or employee-owned. Both types of devices may be used for work as well as personal use.