Policies and procedures are necessary for high-hazard industries like trucking. They add structure and consistency to operations to ensure the highest quality product or service is being delivered. Unfortunately, a lack of oversight by senior management can cause the company’s policies and procedures to deteriorate over time and lead to a phenomenon known as practical drift.

Practical drift is a term coined by Scott A. Snook in his book Friendly Fire . It occurs when an employee gradually diverges from written policies or procedures to the point where the employee’s maladaptive behavior becomes his or her norm. To illustrate this, consider a driver who decides checking the tire tread depths during his/her pre-trip inspection is too tedious and simply skips that step. If skipping the step results in no negative consequences, the behavior is reinforced and will most likely be repeated. This poses a serious risk to motor carriers because deviating from proper vehicle inspections can lead to costly business interruptions and, possibly, crashes.