Does Unsafe Driver Equal Unsafe Employee?
It seems that at some point in life, everybody gets into a driving related accident of some kind or gets pulled over for some form of driving violation. Typically these accidents or misdemeanor driving citations are glanced over by employers as they are seen as being “no big deal” and “irrelevant to employment”. However, at what point do these driving tickets and accidents stop being “no big deal” and start being relevant to the pre-employment screening process?
If a job applicant has a significant amount of regular driving related infractions, it can be concluded that they are an unsafe driver. In the legal world, this is referred to reckless or negligent operation of a motor vehicle. More often than not, the driver has no intention to get an accident or violate some other rule of the road, but for the simple fact that they are not paying enough attention when operating a motor vehicle, they get into an accident or create an unsafe situation. In other words, They are careless.
So what does all this have to do with hiring an employee? It has to do with correlations. If a person is careless and unsafe when driving, what makes you think this carelessness is limited to just driving? More likely than not, a careless driver will be careless in other aspects of their life, including their work. If their carelessness causes accidents on the road, then their carelessness will surely cause accidents at work. To put it quite simply: An unsafe driver is an unsafe worker.
Hiring a potentially unsafe employee can cause numerous problems for your business. For example, if hired, the applicant is likely to get injured on the job. This means that before long your business will be facing a workers’ compensation claim. Under the laws of most jurisdictions, the workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system. This means that it does not matter how the employee was injured. so long as the injury occurred while working for you, your business will be held liable. At the same time, hiring a potentially unsafe employee puts your other employees’ safety at risk. This is especially true in manufacturing positions, where the carelessness of one employee can critically compromise the safety and well being of surrounding co-workers. If another employee gets injured as a result of you knowingly hiring an unsafe worker, your business can be held liable under the legal theory of negligent hiring. Finally, hiring an unsafe employee also puts your customers and your business reputation at risk. If an employee’s carelessness compromises the quality of your business’ product or service, this will negatively affect your company’s rates of customer satisfaction and overall business appeal.
The next time your pre-employment screening background check comes back with a long list of so-called minor driving infractions, you might think twice about brushing them aside. As can be seen, the potential problems created by history of unsafe driving are anything but minor.
