Liquid Environmental Solutions reduces the severity of risky driving events with the Lytx Driver Safety Program

Three Pillars of Success

Liquid Environmental Solutions differentiates itself by how it practically applies the three pillars on which the company was founded—commitment to the environment, customer service, and compliance and safety—each of which benefits its customers, its team members, and the communities in which they live and work. LES’s Safety Pillar states:

“We take an uncompromising approach when it comes to safety, complying with all DOT and OSHA requirements. Our Safety and Compliance team insures that all personnel are continuously trained, adhere to all applicable safety guidelines and requirements. All laws and regulations related to servicing and disposing of liquid waste are followed. We also maintain a Regulatory Affairs team, whose primary mission is staying current with all environmental regulation in each community we serve.”

Liquid Environmental Solutions and its predecessor companies have been a growing presence in liquid waste services business for twenty years, including the last nine years of dramatic growth under its current ownership and name. With over 400 team members, LES presently conducts business in over thirty-nine states from California to Florida and the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast.

Safety is Our Priority

“Whatever we do, we never compromise safety,” explained Mark Saleski, vice president, established operations. “In fact, we’ll go out of our way to make sure that all safety operations are followed, no matter the outcome. We explore all options before jumping into something new and emphasize training—particularly when defining a new area of safety.”

This is exactly the reason why LES did a very careful review prior to implementing the Lytx^® Driver Safety Programme. LES was impressed by what the program said it could offer, but carefully looked at a variety of safety solutions before making a decision. “It was apparent to us that the [Driver] Safety Program was the leader but we wanted to be sure that it would work for us and our particular fleet,” commented Saleski. “We were impressed by how carefully the company walked us through the process, helped us communicate with our drivers and emphasized coaching as the key to success.”

Some Surprising Findings

LES initially implemented the Lytx Driver Safety Programme in its Houston operation. The results were eye-opening:

• 24% reduction in event frequency
• 58% reduction in event severity
• 61% reduction in cell phone use
• 76% reduction in handheld cell phone use
• 71% reduction in unbelted drivers
• 67% reduction in drivers not looking far enough ahead
• 80% reduction in traffic violations

In addition, LES found it had a group of units that were acquired through an acquisition that were exceeding the 65 mph limit that LES implements in its vehicles. Through additional investigation, LES learned that these vehicles had never been regulated and were immediately fixed. As shown above, LES also found that they had a big issue with drivers following too close. “Over time, drivers get comfortable following too close,” explained Saleski. “With the DriveCam videos, we were able to coach our drivers to back off and leave a larger following distance. Without video, we would never have known there was a problem and would not have been able to prevent a possible collision.”

After an in-depth review of the data from the unique Lytx quarterly programme review, LES made the immediate decision to expand company-wide. According to Saleski and LES CEO, Alan Viterbi, “It was a no brainer.

The [Lytx Driver Safety] Programme gave us a fresh look at driver safety. In the past, we had 1-800 stickers on our vehicles. We’d get calls but when we followed up, the driver denied what happened. The programme gives us a reason to coach and the tools to do it properly. And, because of the results we saw, we deployed the [Driver Safety] program across our entire fleet."

Integrated Fleet Tracking is a Bonus

LES aims to reduce its accident frequency each year by 10%. It knows that with the Driver Safety programme in place, it will now reduce its accident rate much further. “We hope to use the [Driver Safety] programme to deal with specific issues and target certain business units and drivers,” explains Saleski. “We want to take underperforming units and improve them over time.”

In addition, they were using fleet tracking. "We have a fleet logistics routing system, but GPS is not easy to use. I like that the [Driver Safety] programme has integrated fleet tracking into its driver risk management system—it’s readily accessible and easy to use. I particularly like the Over-Idle Report, which allows us to know which vehicles are idling too long and will help us improve our fuel efficiency.”

Conclusion

Lytx "supports our Pillar of Success by giving us confidence to know we’re protecting our drivers, our company and our communities,” commented CEO Alan Viterbi. “With video, we can coach our drivers to address those driving behaviours that lead to collisions while reducing our fuel expenses.”