With roots stretching all the way back to the California gold rush of 1849, Loomis has provided secure cash handling for over a century and a half. Today it has a fleet of nearly 3,000 vehicles transporting money and other valuables to support the needs of banks, retail operations and other commercial enterprises.

The firm's insurance risk philosophy is focused on the concept of a "perfect day"—a day in which its drivers avoid personal injury, keep assets secure and get home safely. In their quest to make the perfect day a constant, repeatable reality, Loomis continually investigates ways to improve safety for its staff, its business and the general public.

In that vein, the company recently completed a trial of the Aon SmartDrive Measurable Safety Program, an effort that has slashed the accident rate in its armored trucks and vans by more than half. A bonus outcome: With the program now rolled out across the firm's entire fleet, reducing accident risk has helped decrease the company's insurance costs too.

"The goal of SmartDrive is to correct unsafe behaviors," says David Keyser, western region risk manager for Loomis. "Safety is all about reducing the number of accidents. In order to [accomplish that], you have to reduce the number of incidents … you have to correct unsafe behaviors. By focusing on the unsafe behaviors, in the long run we are improving our safety and we all go home happier at the end of the day."

TOGETHER, AON AND LOOMIS KEEP AN EYE OF SAFETY

When installed, Aon's SmartDrive system uses a progressive recording feature to record events in and around the vehicle. The system constantly monitors data about how the vehicle is being driven, and when an incident takes place, the system captures activity leading up to and in the immediate aftermath of the event, making it available for later analysis.

The event recorder is attached to the windscreen behind the rear-view mirror. It is triggered by a multi-axis accelerometer that tracks sudden movements, such as swerving and abrupt braking, and by a speed sensor that determines when a driver exceeds a safe speed. When a driver makes a sudden move, the SmartDrive system records video, audio and other diagnostic data, both in the cab and around the vehicle, for 15 seconds on each side of the event.

The clips are automatically uploaded to an Aon SmartDrive Measurable Safety Program data center once the driver returns to the depot. Those are reviewed three times and scored by specialist personnel who screen the clips for over 50 potentially unsafe driver activities and common distractions such as tailgating, seat-belt compliance, speeding, mobile phone use and eating. An Aon SmartDrive score is assigned for each incident, providing a quantifiable way to encourage good behavior and give drivers the training they need.

Loomis' fleet and risk managers can assess overall safety performance at any level of the business by logging in to a secure website. Performance reports reveal high-risk events and trends at a given location or division—down to the level of individual drivers—so that managers can quickly recognize and take steps to address their highest risks.

These reports enable loss-prevention managers to work with drivers to provide the safest possible working conditions. "The Aon SmartDrive program has created the weekly management report that condenses all the information available and makes my job as a regional manager a lot easier," Keyser says.

The SmartDrive Measurable Safety Program offers straightforward and informative coaching for drivers. Managers can easily retrieve individual driver histories and video events, which can be replayed and discussed, and event analysis provides insights on how drivers can target and change unsafe behaviors before collisions occur.