The register of safety champions will be used as a high-profile guide to prove that creating a safe fleet pays dividends in the boardroom, particularly when it comes to lower vehicle operating costs and improved company image. Road safety organisation Roadsafe has offered its resources to host and manage the list and is calling on the fleet industry to support the initiative.
Director Adrian Walsh said: ‘It is not so much driving standards, it is more about managing people.
‘You need to manage drivers like pilots. You wouldn’t be happy if a pilot was climbing into the cockpit after just a few hours sleep and a heavy night of drinking, but that happens with business drivers.’
The call comes after a report by the Motorists’ Forum, part of the UK Commission for Integrated Transport, called on employers to become ‘sector champions’ identifying issues in their sectors, including fleet, and acting as advocates working through networks and associations in their sectors.
Walsh added: ‘Road safety is about good citizenship. The Motorists’ Forum has recommended that we need champions. We want to get the champions to agree a proposal for the equivalent of Investors in People status covering business driver safety.
‘But we need champions who are happy to step forward and say they are happy to report on the benefits of meeting these standards.
‘We want to get all these companies together and find out if they are happy to champion fleet safety down their supply chains.
‘We need people to give freely of their time to champion the cause and show that good fleet safety can improve the bottom line. This has got to be a director level responsibility, such as HR and FD level.’
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