Best Practices Staffing Industry Mobility New State Law January 2014

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Continuing with our Best Practices Series, today’s post is a reminder for everyone. January 2014 brings a new Illinois state law requiring drivers to use hands-free devices while driving. This is a great opportunity to review best practices staffing industry mobility and the new state law.

This new law forces us to revisit business practices for everyone in the staffing industry for both the calling and receiving side of phone calls. Many of us use mobile phones as our primary telephone connection device for all business.

Our goal is to be accessible anytime, anywhere by our customers, partners and clients. Our safety and the safety of others when using our mobile devices is more important than being accessible. An unintended consequence of mobile availability can be deadly – and this is one of the reasons for this new law

We should consider the easy options to make this safer for us and for others we connect with using our mobile devices.  It is the responsibility of each of us to help our business partners and others stay within the new law as well as maximize safety of the unknown innocent when taking or receiving phone calls – while driving or when calling someone who may be driving.

Some suggested best practices:

  1. Best not to make or take calls when traffic or driving of either party requires focus.
  2. If you drive, and need to take calls, use a Bluetooth hands-free and voice-activated device as the laws in your state may require.
  3. If you don’t have one, and need one, there are many reasonably priced options (costing less than the penalty).
  4. When making a call to a partner, do it when you are not driving.
  5. If you have to initiate a call while driving, pull over to dial or use the voice-activated dialing option of your Bluetooth device.
  6. If you make a call to any business partner, ask them if it is a “good and safe time to talk.” Consider even asking if they are driving, and if so, offer to call them later.

I’m sure that there are other interesting and valuable steps you and your team can add to this short initial list here in this blog.  the key is to put your safety, and the safety of others first. Always realize there may be others around you or around the person you are calling that may become unintended participants in an accident if safety is not held first.

This easy step of consideration for what the other person on the other end of the phone is doing at the moment you call can actually save their life, or the life of another. Asking the question: “Is this a good and safe time to talk?” is a simple and easy step to take when considering the potential benefit over the risk of tragic accident.

As you think about this topic, consider what it will take to roll out a formal Mobility Policy for the use of mobile devices at your company.  Barton Staffing Solutions has a clear interest in safety, including how we stay connected. If you hear us ask “is this a safe time to talk” now you know why.

 

 

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