Risk management firms have hit back at claims last week that many online risk assessments are of little value to fleets and easy for drivers to manipulate.

Steve Johnson, spokesman for the Fleet Safety Association, has accused Andy Leach, of fleet software specialist cfc solutions, of making “sweeping generalisations” about such systems.

Mr Johnson said: “It’s a shame that Andy Leach has resorted to the rather cynical tactic of making sweeping generalisations about assessment products already in the marketplace in order to promote his own.”

However, Mr Johnson agrees with some of the points raised in the article, adding: “He nevertheless raises an important issue.

“Driver risk assessments, of any type, should never be used in isolation as a means to suggest that a driver risk management programme is being undertaken by an organisation running vehicles for business use.

“Most reputable risk management suppliers, whether members of the Fleet Safety Association or not, would always advocate the use of online risk assessment as merely one element of a suite of interventions.

”As well as gathering factual information, the assessment must also identify the driver’s attitude to driving and this is where psychometric questions can be very valuable.”

Mr Johnson added that identifying a problem, then doing nothing about resolving it, was actually worse than not to have identified it in the first place, and any risk management supplier should tailor the programme to the needs of each fleet.