From Sandra Lee, Director, Worldwide Fleet Safety, Johnson & Johnson
My husband and I have a 12-year daughter who depends on us to get to school, to swim practice, music lessons and doctors’ appointments. Before we know it, we’ll be handing over the keys and she’ll be driving on her own. Our hope is that we’ll have done a good job role modeling safe driving behaviors and that she’ll remember and put into practice what we‘ve taught her… to drive safely and responsibly. And when that day comes, we hope that other drivers who share the roads with her will do the same. For now, we’re happy to be the ones behind the wheel!
At Johnson & Johnson, I’m responsible for ensuring that the employees who use the cars and vehicles in our fleet remain safe. Based on my experiences in this role, however, I know that driving a vehicle can be one of the most dangerous jobs at any company. We have over 30,000 employees who drive a company vehicle, many of whom are on the road 40-60% of the day. In 1994, J&J created a corporate-wide approach to fleet safety to help protect our employees when they are on the road. Called “Safe Fleet”, over the years, we’ve trained 1000s of employees on safe driving techniques and strategies. There’s a great video on our YouTube channel that does an excellent job of explaining how we train our drivers through hands-on training.
Since the launch of SAFE Fleet over 15 years ago, our crashes per million miles driven (CPMM) rate has decreased by 37% globally, yet we are always looking to improve our safety record. The way we see it, every collision has the potential for resulting in injury. One crash is one too many, so we continue our on-going quest toward ZERO crashes and ZERO injuries. Since driving is hazardous whether on or off the job, we have also provided safe driving information through a branded website, www.e-safetyforall.com. It’s one way to reach out to our non-fleet drivers in order to help keep all employees and their families safe. We also partnered with one of our fleet safety business partners, Fleet Risk Advisors, to develop an award-winning teen driver safety outreach video that promotes early education and awareness of safe driving among our young people.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 1.3 million people are killed on roads worldwide and almost 50 million more are injured each year. In fact, road traffic injuries remain the number one cause of death among young people. Recently, the United Nations declared 2011-2020 a Decade of Action for Road Safety in order to stabilize and then reduce the rising fatality rate.
With SAFE Fleet, we’re doing our part to support the UN’s Decade of Action by providing our employees with safe vehicles and promoting safe driving behaviors through management involvement, driver education and awareness. Earlier this month, HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO presented Johnson & Johnson with the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for our leadership and contributions in this arena. Organized and managed by RoadSafe, an organization focused on reducing road deaths and injuries, these awards highlight achievements and improvements that will lead to safer roadways.
At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to the safety and well-being of J&J’s drivers, and we also have a responsibility to the people of our communities, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who share the roads with us. After all, we all want our loved ones to return home safely at the end of each day.