Fleet risk management: all you need to know

AA DriveTech answers the essential questions on your duty of care requirements, driver training and safety technology

1. How far do employers’ duty of care responsibilities extend to company drivers?

A good starting point, to understand an employer’s ‘driving for work’ responsibilities, is to review the Health and Safety Executive’s own website. It states “The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their activities when at work. This includes the time when they are driving or riding at work, whether this is in a company or hired vehicle, or in the employee’s own vehicle.

There will always be risks associated with driving. Although these cannot be completely controlled, an employer has a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to manage these risks and do everything reasonably practicable to protect people from harm in the same way as they would in the workplace.”

In practice, what does this mean? Well, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 are more prescriptive. These require “every employer to carry out an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, or themselves, while they are at work, and to other people who may be affected by their work activities. This includes any driving activity on the road. The regulations require the risk assessment to be reviewed periodically to ensure it remains valid. Employers should consider the risks to employees on the road in the same way as for those in a workplace.”

Employees also have responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They must take reasonable care for the health, safety and welfare of themselves and others while at work, and these duties extend to driving for work. This means that employees have a legal obligation to ensure that they work in a safe manner and must not knowingly do anything that may put themselves or others, including members of the public, at risk.

There are additional duties on employees under road traffic law, as the driver is responsible for checking the roadworthiness and ensuring the proper operation of the vehicle they drive. This legal obligation extends to any vehicle driven for work, including hire cars and private vehicles, regardless of who owns it.

Finally, and for clarity, health and safety law does not apply to drivers commuting to work, unless the employee is travelling from their home to a location that is not their usual place of work.

2. Does this include drivers using thier own cars for business?

100% yes; this issue is now explicitly clarified on the HSE website – see above. It’s clear that the ownership or type of vehicle is not relevant, – it’s the activity of ‘driving for work’ that is important.

In addition, the driver has responsibilities and must meet all statutory and company requirements, including:
■ A full, current and valid driving licence, with the correct category entitlements for the vehicle driven for work.
■ Appropriate insurance; for example, the correct level of business-use cover.
■ Valid vehicle tax.
■ Valid MOT (if appropriate).
■ Registration document (V5) proving own-
ership.
■ Evidence of regular servicing in line with the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance guidelines and, where appropriate, full breakdown amd recovery service in place.

3. How does a fleet identify its higher risk drivers, especially if they have never had an accident?

It’s a well-established fact that drivers who have crashes are generally at higher risk than other drivers. As a result, many organisations use accident management information to identify those drivers who need additional training.

Saying that, if crash details are not known, the number of points on a licence can also be a good guide to a driver’s risk exposure but the number of points doesn’t give the whole story either. At AA DriveTech, we believe the best way to identify high risk drivers is a formal assessment – either online or on-road. Online is quick, inexpensive and available 24/7, while on-road takes more time, needs more organising and is more expensive – but it is face-to-face.

4. What is the best way for a fleet to sell the benefits of driver training to a valued employee who has been driving for years?

Our experience shows that most drivers think they are above average drivers, and therefore are often initially reluctant to engage with occupational road risk programmes. It’s absolutely vital that the organisation answers the ‘what’s in it for me?’ question and this also needs to be aligned with their culture. Bearing in mind the phrase, ‘the top sets the tone’, active sponsorship of the programme by the leadership team is mandatory.

They themselves must practice what they preach. The employer must also decide whether a carrot or stick approach is best, or maybe a combination of both.
Driving is a life skill and reducing the risk for family and passengers is often a great incentive.

5. For which type of drivers is online driver training or in-car training most appropriate?

At AA DriveTech, we offer both. Online training is particularly good for gaining knowledge and new skills, and is available 24/7. On-road training can additionally challenge a driver’s beliefs on what is safe, and provide practical instruction in a real-world environment. Even low-risk exposure drivers can improve their Highway Code knowledge which we offer as an output of their online assessment.

6. Which optional extras, such as autonomous emergency braking, lane assist or drowsiness alerts should a fleet specify on new cars to reduce the risk of accidents?

Being prescriptive about what safety features should be specified is not the issue. Educating business drivers about the benefits of choosing vehicles with innovative safety features, as opposed to just acceleration data, CO2 emissions or just looks, is key. Saying that, different technologies can bring different unexpected consequences, even distractions, to the driving task. We would recommend that drivers are trained on new safety features, too.

7. What sort of return on investment can a fleet expect from a risk management programme?

Our experience is that many fleets adopt a risk management programme for compliance purposes, not business ROI. If fleets do take a long-term, more strategic view, as opposed to a tactical ‘tick the box’ approach, real benefits can be gained either in a reduction in accidents per million miles, fuel consumption or fleet running costs.

We encourage organisations to ‘measure what you want to manage’ so the risk management programmes can be seen to have a direct benefit to the bottom line.

 

For more information, email: tellmemore@AAdrivetech.com, call: 01256 495732 or visit: AAdrivetech.com