New Study Finds Contractors Can Benefit from Safer Fleet Operations, Including Productivity and Profitability Gains

The study exposes the impacts that contractors experience from safety challenges in the operation and maintenance of their vehicles and equipment, and it reveals opportunities for deploying technology to address them.

New data published today by Dodge Construction Network, in partnership with Motive Inc., reveals that contractors still see significant impacts to their projects and businesses due to the operation and maintenance of their fleets of vehicles and equipment. The data comes from “The Safety on the Move: Automated Fleet Management and the Future of Safety for Contractors” e-book, available now.

Key findings include:

• Vehicles: Accidents and near-misses are reported by 57% of contractors. More than half find that these issues lead to productivity declines and increased insurance costs, while more than one third experience schedule delays and profitability declines.
• Equipment: While accidents and near misses for equipment are reported by fewer contractors (27%), they more frequently result in the negative impacts to productivity and schedule. In fact, 60% of those who experience them link them directly to a decline in profitability on their projects.
• Maintenance: 66% of contractors also experience safety issues due to the need for improved fleet maintenance, including both vehicles and equipment.

“Most contractors make jobsite safety a top priority, and they understand its critical role in the success of their projects,” says Steve Jones, senior director of industry insights research at Dodge Construction Network. “But these findings make it clear that vehicle and equipment operation and maintenance need to be a bigger part of the safety conversation than they are now.”

The study also reveals a notable opportunity for contractors to automate how they track and manage their fleet safety. The findings show that while 76% of contractors track vehicle safety and 62% track driver behavior, most rely on paper forms or spreadsheets to do so. Only one quarter (25%) automate data gathering on driver behavior, and even fewer (18%) automate their fleet safety tracking.

The same is true for fleet maintenance, with only 25% using automation or AI to help them manage that process. However, the study reveals that 80% of those using technology for that process find that it improves safety on their projects.

“Too often, safety is seen as a compliance requirement and not what it really is: a key element of a company’s operations that benefits the bottom line, and more importantly protects people, property and reputation,” says Abhishek Gupta, vice president of Product for Fleet Management at Motive. “The improved working conditions, efficiency, and cost savings that come with making safety a priority mean it should be a primary consideration for any business operating in the physical economy.”

For more information about the study findings and the tools available to contractors to help them better manage the safety of their fleet, the Safety on the Move e-book is available for download here.

About Dodge Construction Network: Dodge Construction Network is a solutions technology company providing an unmatched offering of data, analytics, and industry-spanning relationships to generate the most powerful source of information, knowledge, insights, and connections in the commercial construction industry. The company powers longstanding and trusted industry solutions to timely connect and enable decision makers across the entire commercial construction ecosystem. For more than a century, Dodge Construction Network has empowered construction professionals with the information they need to build successful, growing businesses. To learn more, visit construction.com

About Motive:

Motive builds technology to improve the safety, productivity and profitability of businesses that power the physical economy. The Motive Automated Operations Platform combines IoT hardware with AI-powered applications to automate vehicle and equipment tracking, driver safety, compliance, maintenance, spend management and more. Motive serves more than 120,000 businesses, across a wide range of industries, including trucking and logistics, construction, oil and gas, food and beverages, field services, agriculture, passenger transit and delivery.

Visit gomotive.com to learn more.

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