The driver, working for Surrey, B.C.-based Coast Mountain Bus Co., was on a late-night/ early-morning shift when it happened. The driver kindly let the passenger ride for free, but the passenger soon became disruptive. The driver stopped the vehicle and told the passenger to get off. Then the passenger punched the driver, and smashed the windows.

According to Derek Zabel, representing the bus company, by October, drivers have received a range of verbal threats, minor injuries, and more serious injuries requiring hospital visits.

The upshot: “We’re actually seeing a decrease in assaults because of a number of programs we’ve undertaken,” he says.

That Coast Mountain Bus needed to implement specific programs to address operator safety exemplifies the new world of driver training. More than ever, work health and safety specialists are applying novel techniques to ensure fleet drivers working for their respective organizations are safe in a variety of ways. Sources say that some of the new programs could be just the beginning of a whole new attitude towards driving and safety.

Keeping violence off buses
Zabel says Coast Mountain Bus has implemented a number of safety programs. For instance, working with the CAW, which represents Coast Mountain’s bus drivers, the company implemented “violence in the workplace” committees, where drivers, managers and union representatives discuss and develop policies.

The company also increased security at stations, and implemented a radio-GPS system that lets drivers quickly communicate with security personnel and emergency response teams if something happens.

Assaults have been dropping. In 2006, there were 240. In 2007, there were 226, and last year, 140.

But 2009 is showing a slight uptick. By October 2008, Coast Mountain Bus had counted 114 assaults — fewer than the 123 by October 2009. And although the number of assaults decreased from 2006 to 2008, Zabel says the company has been seeing a higher percentage of violent assaults, those that end with a driver going to hospital.

Part of the problem might be the fact that people charged with assaulting drivers could get away with light punishment. In one case, an assailant was sentenced to a few months’ home probation, Zabel says.

“We’d like to see a mandatory criminal penalty for anyone assaulting an operator,” he says, adding that Coast Mountain Bus is lobbying justice officials on that point. “For us, one assault is too many.”

The safety mechanisms go hand in hand with the comprehensive training courses that Coast Mountain Bus drivers must take: six weeks of how-to; refresher courses; remedial lessons when required; specific route training; spot performance checks on the job; et cetera.

The company says its award program is no accident — it recognizes more than 300 drivers each year for reaching various safe-driving milestones; about a dozen each year claim the 30-years-of-safe-driving prize.

Delivering safety
United Parcel Service (UPS) is another business that recognizes safe driving. Earlier this year, the delivery company welcomed a group of drivers into its Circle of Honour for drivers who’ve achieved 25 years or more of safe driving.

According to Stuart Morrish, district health and safety manager for UPS Canada in Mississauga, Ont., Circle of Honour is part and parcel of the company’s extensive driver training practices. He explains that UPS employs a program designed to arm drivers with specific skills, including the ability to anticipate road situations, safely manoeuvre through dense and fast-moving traffic, and ensure other drivers understand what the big brown truck is about to do next.

“We are what we call a billboard to everyone else,” Morrish says. “If you’re following me, you can’t see through me, and you can’t see around me because I’m such a large commercial vehicle. Signaling well in advance warns people what we’re going to do.”