FleetCheck’s new app aims to be “step one in compliance” for fleets that don’t have any form of risk management systems in place.

FleetCheck Driver provides a structured approach to daily walkaround checks on vehicles, ensuring that basic legal safety criteria are not only met, but recorded too.

The app is based on technology from the company’s established Vehicle Inspection App, which has been used for more than one million checks since its 2017 introduction.

Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “One of the most common queries we receive is from companies, especially SMEs, that know they need to be carrying out car and commercial vehicle checks to meet their legal obligations but don’t have any tools in place.

“Sometimes, they are using paper systems but these are often haphazard to say the least and would provide little protection in the event of a health and safety investigation.

“FleetCheck Driver is very much aimed at these companies.

“We see it very much as step on in compliance for businesses that currently have nothing, or almost nothing, in place.

“For them, it will provide a genuine advance in their risk management procedures.”

Its new app is designed to create the means to schedule, carry out, confirm, follow-up and audit all kinds of inspections from daily walkarounds to formal weekly or monthly checks.

It can be used for cars, vans, HGVs, buses and coaches.

It incorporates a range of advanced features such as support for languages commonly used among UK fleet drivers, a fit-to-drive declaration, enhanced damage and defect reporting.

Golding added: “Lately, we have seen attempts to get as much fleet software functionality onto smartphones as possible, and this has a place for some users, but this is not one of those products. It does one thing, it does it well and it does it simply and effectively.

“Of course, we hope and expect that, in time, companies adopting the app will move to further their risk management efforts and we provide a structured upgrade path.”

Details about FleetCheck Driver can be found here.

Last year, FleetCheck said that fit-to-drive declarations that asked employees to affirm their ability to drive safely were becoming “more important” in the light of increased levels of drink and drug driving reported by the police.