How your employees and customers behave at your wash is a key indicator of your businesses attitude toward safety. Safety at your car wash must be your number one priority, and can be greatly improved by increasing both your employee’s and customers’ attentiveness.
Increasing attentiveness doesn’t need to be a difficult task. Use the following list as a guide to help you begin adopting these practices at your wash today.
- All new and existing employees must be trained regularly to recognise the common hazards associated with vehicles on the property. Even if you think your existing employees don’t need training, it’s good practice to give them a refresher every few months. Problems can be overlooked simply because car wash professionals become accustomed to these issues on a regular basis.
- Make sure you have clear directional signage wherever possible to avoid confusion while driving.
- Implement a strict ‘no mobile phone’ policy for all on the clock employees to avoid distraction.
- All employees who are performing any task at your wash such as guiding cars onto the conveyor, must be properly trained to do so and made aware of the safety risks. Training your employees must be done thoroughly and should never be rushed.
- Keep distracting conversations between employees to a minimum when amongst moving vehicles.
- Adopt a self-care attitude and encourage self-care amongst your employees. Stress and fatigue can play a significant role in causing distractions. Employees who are well rested are more alert when performing tasks.
- if you’re running a POS system on a tablet, ensure to implement and enforce rules around the use of these devices.
- Be sure the conveyor has an audible device that can be heard while it’s activated.
- Have your employees create a list of distractions they see at the carwash and use your next safety meeting to discuss the causes and to develop solutions that lessen the risk.
