3 Safety Tips for Fuel-Lube Truck Owners & Drivers in 2025

Whether you’re a fuel lube truck owner, a fleet manager, or a lube technician, if your New Year’s resolution was to “be healthier,” that also means avoiding injury at work. As industry experts who’ve worked as lube truck techs ourselves, we’re here to remind you of important safety tips to apply in 2025, to help keep you and your crews safe all year long. From a pre-trip inspection checklist to refreshers on how to avoid repeat motion injuries, slips, trips, and falls, we’ll cover all you need to know.

1. Pre-Trip Inspections “For The Win” (FTW!)

We get it: mobile lube techs hope to save daylight, avoid heavy traffic, and meet their requirements to shut down on time. This means doing as much servicing as possible, as quickly as possible. However, completing a quick pre-trip inspection can mean the difference between a successful, efficient workday and a day full of headaches.

In an effort to promote safety across the board, many companies provide both printed and digital pre-trip checklists to their fleet drivers to aid in building the habit of safety even during busy days. However, due to their administrative nature, pre-trip inspections might be forgotten or glossed over by inexperienced drivers, during peak season, and even by tenured owner-operators that know the information by heart. Still, all drivers and techs should aim to perform pre-trip inspections to protect themselves, their equipment, and surrounding team members. Accidents never happen when it’s convenient, and incorporating safety measures can statistically decrease the likelihood of something going awry.

A typical pre-trip checklist includes:

• Testing headlights, brake lights, and amber signals for functionality
• Checking tire condition (wear patterns, pressure, inspect for any damage)
• Ensuring the fire extinguisher and safety reflectors are properly installed and accessible
• Listening for any air leaks from hoses or lines
• Looking for leaks or product spillage around the tanks, inside the reel cabinet, or underneath the chassis

Remember, every driver should complete a thorough pre-trip every time! This is for your safety, the safety of the public, and the longevity of the truck. Also, ensure you have all the proper documents. Check your insurance paperwork, manifest, or bill of lading for cradle-to-grave hazardous material transport.

2. Avoid Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMI) in 2025

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), repetitive motion injuries can damage your muscles, skeleton, joints, tendons, and ligaments. RMIs can be very painful and may lead to life-long conditions. These injuries occur in a variety of industries when you do the same physical task often during the workday.|

Common RMIs include:

• Tennis elbow
• Over-exertion stress (back and knee pain)
• Bursitis (joint inflammation from overuse)
• Carpal tunnel

Repetitive motion injuries can start as an unusual ache, sometimes with swelling or occasional, random discomfort. As the weeks, months, and years progress, they become more intense. Eventually, RMIs can be debilitating.

Ways to avoid RMIs before they start:

• Take your breaks on time, and avoid the urge to work through them
• Use proper lifting techniques and equipment
• Wear the right protective equipment when required
• Aim to use good posture while driving, sitting, and standing
• Always use the right tool for the job (if and whenever you can)

So what does this mean for lube technicians? Fuel lube truck drivers face an extra risk of muscle fatigue, which can lead to repetitive motion injuries. Pushing, pulling, and climbing actions can take a toll on your body over time. Implementing RMI-preventative behaviors in 2025 can help you develop safe habits, especially when it comes to the operation of your fuel-lube truck.

Work Injuries from the Employer Perspective

No one wants to experience a painful injury, and they’re unpleasant to imagine. Still, fleet managers, supervisors – and HR specialists, in particular – should be aware of RMI risks. From a strictly business perspective, losing an employee to a work injury is expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating.

Good lube technicians are valuable resources to their companies, and prioritizing their health and safety benefits everyone. Be sure to include some extra safety training for your crews, and consider adding more safety information to your employee handbook this year.

3. Avoid Slips, Trips, and Falls When Operating a Fuel-Lube Truck

According to OSHA, slips, trips, and falls cause nearly 700 workplace fatalities (and many more injuries) every year in the US. Fuel-lube truck drivers face extra risk here, especially if they climb on top of a truck to refill product tanks manually.

As leaders in our industry who are always seeking to innovate in a way that benefits our customers, we recognized this potential safety risk and created a fast-fill manifold option to prevent such injuries in future. With this option, drivers refill the product tanks standing at the back of the truck on the ground. This removes the need to climb up on the truck to refill tanks, reducing the risk of fall injuries and normal joint/muscle fatigue that can lead to RMIs. This option is especially beneficial if you own your lube truck and/or work as a contractor, as your profitability relies entirely on your personal ability to work consistently and efficiently.

Easy ways to avoid slips, trips, and falls include:

• Wear quality footwear (good foundations aren’t just for structures!)
• Clean up spills as quickly as possible
• Keep truck yards, parking lots, garages, and shops tidy
• Coil up electrical cords and hoses and store them immediately after use
• De-ice stairs and ladders during winter months

And most of all, avoid distractions at work. Vow to be “present” during the workday: alert, aware, and involved. Using your phone while operating the truck or servicing heavy equipment is a recipe for trouble. If it’s not an emergency, the best thing to do is save it for break time!

Learn More About TPL and Our Custom Fuel Lube Trucks

Did anything in this article ring especially true for you? Perhaps you’re living with an RMI from years of service, or maybe you’ve endured a fall from the top of a fuel lube truck in the past. If so, we invite you to check out our custom lube trucks and learn more about our safety features!

We’re proud to be a family-owned and operated business, bringing more than three decades of experience to the job. With our reputation for impeccable construction and unmatched operational longevity, our mobile lubrication products are the perfect fit for your organization.

Contact us today to learn more about our custom fuel lube trucks, lube skids, lube systems, water trucks, and more. We look forward to earning your business for decades to come!