Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) professionals are placing new emphasis on driver safety and driver risk management technology.
The Focus Network's 2024 EHS Leaders Summit, which surveyed 467 EHS Directors nationwide, found that driver safety ranked as the fourth-highest investment priority among EHS leaders in 2024. This focus comes at a time when the EHS market is projected to expand from $7.3 billion in 2023 to $15.9 billion by 2032, reflecting a 9.1% CAGR. This growth is driven by increasing regulatory scrutiny, corporate sustainability commitments and the adoption of digital solutions.
A 2023 Verdantix report found that 72% of EHS decision-makers plan to increase investments in software solutions over the next two years, emphasizing the shift toward digital tools that streamline reporting and improve operational efficiency.
These EHS trends reflect a perfect storm of factors: mounting workplace fatalities, escalating litigation risks and technological capabilities that finally make comprehensive driver safety programs both practical and defensible.
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Vehicles Are the Deadliest Workplaces
Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of work-related deaths in the United States. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, transportation incidents accounted for 36.8% (1,942) of all occupational fatalities in 2023, maintaining their position as the most frequent type of fatal workplace event.
The challenge is that many organizations don't think of vehicles as workplaces. But when sales representatives, service technicians, delivery drivers and countless other employees spend hours daily on the road as part of their jobs, the vehicle becomes an extension of the workplace—one shared with millions of other drivers, each with varying skill levels and attention spans.
The financial toll is equally devastating. Vehicle crashes cost the US economy hundreds of billions of dollars each year. For businesses, the costs extend far beyond insurance premiums to include lost productivity, litigation exposure, reputation damage and the immeasurable cost of losing valued team members.
Navigating the Legal Minefield
Beyond human and financial costs lies a threat that keeps executives awake at night: nuclear verdicts.
These jury awards exceeding $10 million have become increasingly common in vehicle-related litigation. Between 2015 and 2019, average top verdicts tripled from $64 million to $214 million.
What makes these verdicts particularly dangerous is their unpredictability. Research shows 80% of crashes involving commercial vehicles aren't the company driver's fault. But facts alone don't determine courtroom outcomes, narrative does. Plaintiff attorneys using strategies like "Reptile Theory" paint companies as ongoing dangers to the community, turning every gap in safety programs into evidence of negligence.
This creates a paradox for EHS leaders. The same data and safety metrics that enable better risk management can be weaponized in court if not handled strategically. Courts increasingly recognize a higher standard of care where "I didn't know" is no longer acceptable when risk monitoring technology is readily available.
The real legal risk is in collecting data without acting on it.
Technology Finally Matches the Challenge
The convergence of these pressures has coincided with a technological revolution that makes comprehensive driver safety programs both practical and powerful. Gone are the days when driver safety meant running annual motor vehicle record (MVR) checks and hoping for the best.
Modern integrated platforms now combine telematics data with MVRs, CSA activity, training completion and more to create comprehensive risk profiles. Instead of managing scattered data sources, safety professionals get unified, normalized dashboards that enable proactive, trackable intervention before problems escalate.
Ongoing visibility transforms how safety teams operate. Rather than waiting for infrequent reviews, managers can identify concerning patterns as soon as possible.
Simplified compliance and eLearning address the resource constraints that plague many EHS departments. Risk monitoring happens continuously rather than annually. eLearning can be deployed right away based on risk triggers. Documentation and reporting are streamlined through integrated platforms, amplifying human judgment.
Organizational Blockers for EHS
Despite the compelling statistics and industry validation, many EHS professionals find themselves fighting an uphill battle for resources and attention when it comes to safety. The 2018 EHS Today National Safety Survey, which captured insights from 870 safety leaders, reveals a persistent disconnect that continues to plague the profession.
While 80% of safety professionals report management support for safety efforts, many believe executives don't fully grasp the value of comprehensive safety programs—particularly those addressing off-site risks like driving. As one safety leader bluntly observed: "Too much influence is wielded by people who only care about next quarter's numbers. Employees are an expendable supply."
This short-term thinking creates dangerous blind spots where driving risks are minimized or ignored entirely. The challenge becomes even more complex with driver safety, where risks vary dramatically based on role, vehicle type, weather conditions and individual driver experience. Yet as one respondent noted: "Our corporate culture assumes one-size-fits-all when it comes to worker safety and facility safety requirements. Different facilities are at different places in their safety journey, so you can't apply the same logic to all."
The Resource Constraint Reality
The struggle intensifies when EHS responsibilities get spread thin across organizations. "EHS responsibilities are being fanned out to folks who have many responsibilities, and the focus on safety gets lost," explained one survey participant. "This is particularly true for small sites/offices, of which there can be many in a large corporation."
This "do more with less" pressure makes driver safety particularly challenging because it often falls between traditional EHS responsibilities and fleet management, potentially creating gaps where no one owns the complete picture.
The Data Disconnect
Perhaps most critically, the disconnect between EHS professionals and management often stems from inadequate data presentation. As one safety leader explained: "It's easier to track and, with a click of a button, send out to all of management and allow them to observe what I have found. Without them knowing all details and evidence to back it up, things can't get resolved."
Another added: "The data collected from [software] will be visible to management and give them more of an understanding of the necessity of the safety program and hopefully gain more support."
This is where the evolution of driver safety technology becomes crucial for providing the compelling data story that leadership needs to understand the scope and urgency of existing problems.
Breaking Down Silos
The survey also highlighted a persistent challenge that's particularly acute for driver safety: organizational silos. "More integration and collaboration between the environmental, safety, accessibility and industrial health fields would benefit the industry as a whole," noted one respondent. "Lapses of protection, lack of comprehensive workforce support and knowledge transfer occur when these fields are not functioning as an integrated partnership."
Driver safety amplifies this challenge because it spans traditional departmental boundaries—touching EHS, fleet management, HR, risk management and legal. Organizations achieving the best results are those that break down these silos, creating unified programs that address driver safety as part of comprehensive workplace protection.
Discover More EHS Trends & Risk Insights
The organizations investing in comprehensive driver risk management software today are positioning themselves for success across multiple dimensions—reduced incidents, lower insurance costs, enhanced reputation and crucial protection against potentially devastating litigation.
For EHS professionals, this represents both challenge and opportunity. The challenge is securing organizational commitment and resources. The opportunity is demonstrating that strategic safety management drives measurable business value.
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SambaSafety's 2025 Driver Risk Report provides the latest data and insights safety leaders need to make the case for driver safety investment. The report examines current risk trends, regulatory changes, insights from EHS leaders and much more. Download your free copy below!
