SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, is changing the way we interact with the world around us. Whether that means staying home, working remotely when possible, or self-isolating to avoid exposure, everyone is doing their best to “flatten the curve” and keep themselves and their loved ones healthy.
However, for truck drivers across the country, working from home isn’t an option. It’s their job to keep shipments moving, stores stocked with the supplies people need, and ultimately, keep major sections of our country running during this trying time.
Here at Lily Transportation, we’re constantly inspired by the commitment and courage of our drivers and are always looking for new ways to help keep them safe. With that in mind, here are four ways to make truck driver safety a constant priority, no matter where the job takes you.
Keep Your Distance
One of the best things anyone can do to prevent exposure to the coronavirus is to keep your distance from others. For truckers, this means using truck stops carefully and maintaining a six-foot distance between themselves and anyone else around. Like a driver told a reporter for the Star Tribune, keeping your distance “is for other people.”
Social distancing is for everyone’s benefit and safety. And for truckers who are traveling across state lines (and into highly-populated areas), it becomes nothing less than essential, as it helps them keep on trucking and, as a result, keep our country running.
Wear the Proper Safety Equipment
While social distancing is an incredibly important part of truck driver safety, so is having the right kind of safety supplies and protective equipment. To further stop the risk of exposure to COVID-19, the CDC recommends that “critical infrastructure workers” should be wearing a face mask whenever they’re in public and cannot maintain a 6-foot distance.
To really maximize truck driver safety, wear disposable gloves whenever you’re handling paperwork or product and remember to wash your hands (or use sanitizer) after every transaction and avoid touching your face.
Clean the Truck’s Interior
Even if you take all of the right precautions, your truck driver safety checklist should still include cleaning the interior of your truck as often as you can. This means wiping down any high-contact surfaces (steering wheel, door handles, etc.) with a cleaning product (i.e., alcohol-based wipes or sprays containing at least 70% alcohol) or soapy water.
By incorporating cleaning the inside of your truck into your pre-trip process, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing that you’re doing everything you can to ensure not only your safety but also the safety of anyone else who may operate or interact with the truck in the future.
Take Care of Yourself
As important as these truck driver safety tips are, the only one who can enact them is you. So, as you go about your routine, take care of yourself! You’re doing incredible work, and we all want you to stay as healthy as you can be. Wear a mask when you’re in public; limit your exposure to others; order takeout food so you don’t have to go inside a restaurant; clean your truck (and sleeping cabin if you’re driving long-distance), and monitor yourself for any signs of illness.
If you have any questions about trucking during COVID-19 or want to learn more about how Lily Transportation is prioritizing truck driver safety, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
