Distracted driving is at epidemic levels in the United States. Smart phone use, texting, and even simple phone conversations are proven distractions. Employers are responsible for the safety of the fleet, and must address how technology is used when employees are driving on company business. To deal with the growing problem, OSHA has expanded the ban on cell phone use to include employees of all industries and license types.

Distracted driving takes both the eyes and the mind off of the road, which are examples of both risk taking and complacent behavioral issues. Texting, web surfing and phone dialing are particularly dangerous because they take the driver’s eyes off of the road (risk taking). Even hands-free devices are considered dangerous because the driver’s mind is off of the road (complacency). But many drivers incorrectly consider hands-free devices as a safe alternative.

The current OSHA policy is to use the General Duty Clause (Section 5a1 of the OSH Act of 1970) to enforce a cell phone and texting ban while driving. The General Duty Clause states that employers shall furnish employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or physical harm to employees. OSHA will determine whether or not company policies or behaviors contributed to or condoned the cell phone use that resulted in a crash. OSHA also reserves the right to investigate credible employee complaints about work-related cell phone use or texting.

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Revised OSHA policy
OSHA’s revised policy now includes all private employers in the United States, and all employees that drive for the company regardless of license type. All industries are affected including home health, construction, and sales service drivers.

This is big news for employers because it affects every employer with workers driving on company time regardless of the type of vehicle or license. It also affects operations and communication. Are your employees taking business calls often? Does the office call or message workers often? Are employees making sales calls on the road? Do dispatchers call the drivers? Or are they simply handling personal business? Many employers have company drivers and don’t know it. Do you have employees taking in the mail or going to the bank? What about employees making parts runs? They are considered company drivers and shouldn’t be using the phone.

When OSHA is notified of a fatality the investigation phase begins. OSHA will respond and begin their investigation of the incident, and of the employer’s safety, documentation, and prevention efforts. During this phase, cell phone records will be requested and company cell phone policies and enforcement policies may be questioned.

Zero tolerance for distracted driving
Just about every employee on the payroll has a cell phone or smart phone, whether it’s the company’s or their own. Young workers use texting as a favorite method of communication. MEM has always recommended that employers ban the use of cell phones, texting and smart phones while driving. MEM also recommends that companies adopt a written seat belt policy. The recent changes to OSHA regulations add another reason why employers need to implement a cell phone/phone distracted driving policy. Find some resources for building a policy in MEMIC WorkSafe Center's defensive driving tutorial.

Written policies are needed. But remember that a policy that isn’t enforced is simply a hollow threat. Make sure that employees don’t use cell phones while driving. If cell phone use is discovered, disciplinary action should result. If a fatality occurs, a policy statement won’t really help much without a meaningful policy. Keep records of both training on the policy and document any disciplinary action. OSHA cares only about the fact that the fatality happened, and that the policy obviously didn’t work. Fines may be levied.

Vehicle crashes are the number one way to die on the job. Do your part. Reduce the contributing behavioral factors of both complacent and risk taking behaviors that result in crashes. Develop written policies. Enforce the rules. Lead by example and do your part to create an accident-free work environment.

Mark Woodward is a Loss Control Specialist at Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance Company in Columbia, Missouri.

The Dexter Chamber of Commerce held at ribbon-cuttng celebration to mark Luvleigh Creations joining the Chamber. Luvleigh Creations has recently moved to a new location on 16 South Walnut in Dexter. On hand for the celebration were (front row. from left) Alderman Jerry Corder, Mayor Joe Weber, owners Dawn Ledler and Leigh Ann Carrillo, Chamber directors Kevin Bishop and Mendy Bell, and Chamber Executive Janet Coleman; (back row) Alderman Terry Battles, Tyler Wagner, store employee Mandy Crowe, and Nick Boemler. This was the 13th ribbon cutting celebration hosted by the Dexter Chamber in 2011.(SMT photo)

Justin Robey with the Dexter Fire Department tests a water hydrant at the corner of Bain and Catalpa on Wednesday afternoon. The test is a part of the annual testing of the more than 425 hydrants in the city. Dexter Fire Chief Al Banken said the department tests each hydrant every summer to ensure the city meets standards set by the ISO. (Insurance Services Organization). The city works to maintain standards as set ISO in reviewing the firefighting capabilities of communities. The major elements of a community’s fire-fighting system are graded on a scale of 1 – 10, Banken said. (SMT photo by Annabeth Miller)

A SMT News Report

Travelers on Route 25 in Stoddard County should be prepared for travel delays due to roadway repairs.

The Missouri Department of Transportation announced that Route 25 will be reduced to one lane while MoDOT crews perform pavement repairs. The section of the roadway being repaired will be from US 60 to Route E.

The roadwork is to continue this week through the end of the day on Thursday, July 7. The work zone will be marked with signs. Motorists are urged to use extreme caution while traveling near the area.

Special needs children in Tanya Reiker’s Southwest Elementary School classroom will soon receive the playground equipment they need to safely have fun during the school day.

“The grant is through the Pepsi Refresh Project; they have set aside millions of dollars for ideas with categories for art, education, etc.,” Reiker commented. “The way they set it up, they had May, June and July winners. We submitted the idea in the first part of may; then they tell you if you’re one of the roughly 1000 chosen to be able to be voted on.”


“In the $10,000 category, the top 15 vote getters get the grant,” Reiker added. “All we had to do was finish in the top 15. We haven’t received any official notification yet, but we should have that by July 23.”

Reiker and fellow teacher Peggy Potts‘ idea was simple: to have a playground built for the special needs children that they interact with on a daily basis. Traditional playground equipment is not designed - and therefore unsafe - for children with physical handicaps.


Reiker said part of the reason for the project is the enormous cost of playground equipment for children with special needs - federal, state and district funds would not cover the total cost of such a project. The Southwest program did receive a federal grant to help get the playground process started – first by removing pea gravel in the area and then resurfacing the playground.

“There’s an adaptive swing that we’ve always wanted that is $4,000,” she pointed out. “But all we could do with this federal grant money was resurface the area.”


Reiker noted that the outstanding support her ‘idea‘ received from the community was key in earning the grant.


“The big thing was that we found out that the ‘power voting’ was key. If you went in [to the website] and voted you got one vote,” Reiker explained. “If you had the ‘power voting’ code that came with Pepsi products, it would be anywhere from five to 100 votes, and that was the trick. Once we figured that out, we started doing whatever we could to find those lids!”

Reiker also pointed out support from Dexter Parks & Recreation and the Rib City Shootout basketball tournament.


“DPR let us put out displays at all their facilities - Amy Ellinghouse pestered people down at the little league games to get votes,” Reiker continued. “Chad Allen let us advertise at the Rib City Shootout. You could even text in votes - the high school cheerleading coaches made the girls line up at practice and text in their votes for us!”


After a long journey, with voting ending June 30, Reiker pointed out a few bumps in the road.


“Wednesday we were in seventh place,” Reiker said. “When we woke up Thursday, we were in twelfth. At one point yesterday, we were in 17th. It had just been back and forth like that, but we finished twelfth.”

“Thank you to everybody. To me, it was incredible to see people take this so seriously and get behind this,” Reiker said. “People throughout the community were great - so many people were so supportive, and this wouldn’t have been possible without them.”