MORE than half of UK fleets have taken no action to improve safety over the past two years, new research reveals.

The study, produced by fleet management software provider cfc solutions, shows that fleets face a huge amount of work to ensure drivers are safe on the roads if they are to meet guidelines announced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in its Driving at Work report (see the link in Useful Stuff).

The guidance provides a checklist of areas fleets need to examine to be certain they are meeting their duty of care to employees.

While it is only guidance, with no legal standing, it is backed by a string of laws that could put employers in the dock if they fail in their duty of care to at-work drivers, including those on business in private cars.

The cfc survey found that 55% of fleets have not taken any action to improve the safety of their fleets in the past two years and only 45% have future plans in place to improve safety.

Jason Francis, cfc's managing director, said: 'This research was undertaken as the HSE report was issued but awareness among many customers of the report's launch was low.

'Some were reviewing their fleet policies but most were not doing so in direct response to any corporate manslaughter or liability risks. Instead, rising insurance premiums prompted the need for change. We believe that the key findings underline the culture change that many fleets need to undergo to meet the HSE's guidelines.'

The findings of the survey come soon after Fleet NewsNet revealed that weeks after the HSE launched its ground-breaking guidance, half of fleet decision-makers had yet to read it (Fleet NewsNet, September 30).

Respondents to the cfc solutions survey were also asked about how often they checked driving licences.

It found that 25% perform checks every six months, 54% perform checks every 12 months, 3% every two years, 15% at induction and 3% never do.

Driver training also formed part of the survey and it was found that 25% of fleets provide driver training for selective drivers, such as those who do a high mileage, while 29% provide driver training for all business car users.

However 46% of fleets provided no training.

Key findings of CFC's survey