by Larry White, January 10, 2014
Ensuring workplace safety is a difficult task for any company. You must have the right plans and programs in place to safeguard your employees. This starts during the hiring process and carries itself throughout the tenure of an employee’s stay at the company. A safe working environment is a happy working environment.
Here are three ways that your company can help ensure workplace safety:
Motor Vehicle Reports
Motor Vehicle Reports conducted prior to employment can help keep problems at bay by eliminating candidates for transportation positions who have poor driving records. Driving record assessments may include a history of reckless driving, speeding, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, suspended and revoked driver’s license. Accurate assessment of one’s motor vehicle driving record is critical for maintaining workplace safety, and requires reliable, timely, and complete information. Every time an employee starts a car on company time, the employee and company are liable.
You can screen both commercial (CDL) and non-commercial (Non-CDL) driving records in all 50 states plus DC. The information collected can include:
- License information (class and class description, issue date, expiration date, status (valid, invalid), and any applicable restrictions)
- Insurance lapses
- Driving record information for Non-CDL driving (any violations or suspensions to include date issue happened and date of conviction, the violation/suspension code and description, and the number of points against their license),
- Accidents or violations for CDL (to include type, violation/suspension date, conviction date, violation/suspension code, number of points against the license, and violation/suspension description)
Terrorist Watch List
Industries such as the transportation industry, airplanes, railways, cargo ships, freight trucks, etc. frequently transport sensitive cargo and information. The screening of employees and contractors who are responsible for these modes of transportation should be of the utmost importance to ensure workplace safety, especially if cargo such as radioactive and biochemical materials are being transported. If these materials ended up in the wrong hands we could be looking at a national catastrophe.
Therefore, federal government watch list services include information about individuals and corporations linked to terrorism or terrorist activity. Additional records exist for those that have been debarred, denied, sanctioned, or are listed on exclusion, most wanted, fugitive lists, and more. The sources for the government watch list includes lists published by the FBI and the DEA, among others.
The use of the Terrorist Watch List has proved a valuable tool to both law enforcement agencies and industries alike. According to a report by the GAO (Government Accountability Office), the federal community reports that counterterrorism efforts have been greatly aided by (1) helping frontline screening agencies obtain information to determine the level of threat a person poses and the appropriate action to take, if any, and (2) providing the opportunity to collect and share information on known or appropriately suspected terrorists with law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community.
Source: United States Government Accosuntability Office, Report to Congressional Requesters, “TERRORIST WATCH LIST SCREENING”, October 2007.
Hosted Employee & Contractor Training
In order to ensure workplace safety throughout the year, employee and contractor safety and compliance education should be an ongoing effort. Safety training and testing solutions should be administered to employees and contractors not only at the beginning of their employment, but also throughout their time spent at the company whenever the need to cover new training arises. Training and testing on safety and compliance make sure that your workforce is in compliance with not only organizational policies, but industry regulations as well.
Forms of training may include:
- HR Orientations
- Corporate and Compliance Presentations
- Employee Surveys and Polls
- Industry and Regulatory Tests w/Auto Grading
Contact eVerifile to discuss options on how to best provide workplace safety for your employees and contractors.