Did you know that one recent survey found that more than half of employees with smartphones said they check them while driving? 54%, to be exact. That’s a huge proportion – and one that should get the attention of any company who issue employees with phones – or lets them drive company-owned vehicles.

In an excellent two-part report in Safety Daily Advisor, Chris Kilbourne profiles two companies who have paid attention to the problem of employee driver distraction by implementing policies designed to keep drivers safer and more focused behind the wheel: KCI Technologies, Inc. and Sunoco.

Let’s take a look at the profile of KCI Technologies, the first company Kilbourne covers. Kilbourne reports that KCI Technologies implemented a policy after “regular monitoring revealed that the bulk of KCI’s vehicle accidents were related to distracted driving, especially cell phone use.” The company opted to take a hard line and completely ban the use of mobile phones while driving. According to Kilbourne, the company’s policy states:

Employees will avoid using the cell phone or other electronic devices while driving. Allow voice mail to handle your calls, and if you must use a cell phone, safely pull off the road and stop the vehicle.

KCI Technologies also requires employees involved in at-fault crashes to pay up to $1,000 in repair costs, and mandates a review of their driving records before they’re allowed to drive for the company. So the company is committed to holding employees accountable if they cause crashes, and covering its negligent entrustment bases by checking on employees’ driving history. But what is KCI doing to actually enforce its cell phone use policy? According to Kilbourne’s article, KCI Technologies uses GPS systems designed to detect unsafe driving behavior. Implementing a policy to protect employees from distracted driving crashes was an excellent first step, and using technology to monitor driver behavior was a very smart second step. Although KCI Technologies has already seen its number of at-fault crashes drop from 21 in 2007 to 9 in 2009, the company could and should do more to monitor whether employee drivers are abiding by the company’s cell phone use policy – and that would be its best decision of all.

Taking another step and implementing technology to measure and monitor its drivers’ use of mobile phones would fully ensure KCI Technologies’ policy does what it’s designed to do: reduce distracted driving crashes, expense, danger – and risk to the company. As we’ve documented in our white paper, Distracted Driving: Understanding Your Business Risk and Liability, companies who implement but don’t enforce cell phone use policies leave both their employees and their bottom lines vulnerable to the risk associated with distracted driving.

To learn why employee cell phone use while driving is a serious threat to businesses – and why strong, enforced policies are so important, download a free copy of the white paper for yourself.