LISTENING to the advice of a good fleet manager could keep company bosses out of jail, according to Saul Jeavons, head of investigations and risk management at the Transport Research Laboratory.

Summing up his presentation on the latest techniques in accident investigation, Jeavons referred to the inquiry into the Hatfield train crash and the statement that saved Gerald Corbett, head of Railtrack, from prosecution.

He said: ‘A Railtrack director told the inquiry that for every five minutes at board meetings spent discussing performance, 10 to 20 minutes were spent talking about safety.

‘So the company was able to demonstrate how seriously it took safety. And senior engineers claimed that advice from professional heads was always accepted. It’s easy to draw parallels with the fleet industry.

‘How many companies spend up to four times longer on safety than performance and always listen to the advice of experts?’ asked Jeavons. ‘Does yours?’