Practical Safety Tips When Handling Delivery Work

If you’re in the business of handling delivery work, you need to know how to protect not just yourself but the cargo you're carrying. Here are a few practical tips to help keep things on the safe side.

Keep confidential. It is not only good business ethics to keep the confidence of your clients, but doing so also helps prevent people from targeting your deliveries for unsavoury purposes. Keep mum about all the clients and deliveries you make, whether you’re hauling a load of rubbish or a load of valuable electronics, and it will be harder for crooks to single you out for theft.

Avoid sharing locations. Smartphones and tablets are a boon for delivery work, with the advent of apps that help in navigation and keeping track of traffic. Just make sure that the apps installed on your gadgets don’t share the location of the vehicles on social networks. You really don’t want to be advertising where your trucks are all over the Internet.

Let co-workers know where you are at all times. While it's not advisable to share your location with total strangers, it's vital to do so with co-workers. Monitoring the location of a driver via GPS or radio check-ins will help the team react faster if something does go wrong.

Invest in tough locks, tough windows and tough alarms. Dedicated thieves will always find a way, but it pays to make their lives a bit more difficult. Reinforced windows and heavy-duty locks will make it difficult for thieves to just smash their way to the loot, while elaborate alarm systems will alert nearby people to theft in progress.
Park overnight in designated truck stops. Long distance transportation jobs will often entail stopovers for the night. Make sure you or anyone else handling the delivery work stops over only in ‘safe’ truck stops where other drivers also spend the night. Safety in numbers applies here, and there will be plenty of other people to lend a hand should anyone try to take advantage.

Carry only as much money as needed. It is generally a bad idea for drivers to carry too much spare cash while on a job. Petty thieves and crooks will pay more attention when they see a fat stack of bills in your wallet. If you need to transport a lot of cash, consider writing cheques or bring a non-descript cash box instead.

Drive defensively and avoid road rage. A calm state of mind can help drivers focus more on the road and less on distractions that could lead to disaster. Driving calmly also helps prevent possible altercations on the road, which can lead to road rage – an exceptionally bad idea when delivering heavy and valuable loads.

Keep these tips in mind, and they’ll help keep you safer while handling delivery work.