Making Safety Complete for Your Fleet

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03 March 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970

The TTC Group which trains more than 330,000 people each year to reduce road casualties, is offering a free online audit, that its states takes a few minutes to complete and will ‘quickly reveal’ if a business is successfully minimising its workplace road safety risks for staff who drive for work.

The audit of 18 questions also identifies how a company can improve driver safety and keep their fleet safe.

“Organisations have instant access to results at the end of the audit and get a better understanding of how they manage workplace safety,” said Alan Prosser, Director, TTC. “It also shows how to implement best practice for it’s better to be proactive rather than wait for a road traffic incident which may have a serious business impact.”

The audit includes information on how to reduce driving risks, create a company safety behaviour, review policy documents, test staff knowledge, DVLA document checks, risk and aptitude assessments, including the identification of hazards and data monitoring.

Driver profiling to identify those most at risk and analysis of employees knowledge of the rules of the road are also easy to do online with the aim of educating any of the workforce to improve their road knowledge, argues TTC. “It is important for every business to embed a safe driving attitude in their organisation to reduce road casualties, insisted Prosser. “With almost one in three road collisions work related, it is an important responsibility on the shoulders of fleet operators.”

He bemoaned that fact that many companies risk overlooking the ‘grey fleet’ and do not collect accident data, know if their staff have penalty points on their licence or even if employee owned cars have a valid MOT.

However, he praised organisations such as BT which had successfully implemented fleet management practices and cut monthly injury and damage collision rates by 50% from 60 per 1,000 vehicles in 2001 to less than 30 per 1,000 in 2014, thereby saving £12 million a year by managing workplace road safety.

Coming together of industry professionals

The UK’s leading road safety charity, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), recently hosted the inaugural meeting of its new Business Customer Advisory Group (BCAG).

The gathering saw industry professionals come together to give their opinions on what they need from ‘innovative’ driver risk management programmes designed to deliver safer and more efficient driver activities for their businesses.

The meeting welcomed a variety of fleet, transport and safety experts from E.ON, TubeLines, Siemens, Cannon Hygiene, Belron, National Services for Health Improvement, London Borough of Newham and assurance provider LRQA, a member of the Lloyd’s Register group.

The first of a regular series of meetings, BCAG will advise on the direction of the IAM’s product portfolio and help to find answers to the issues which are challenging fleet managers today.

BCAG discussed the changing environment of those who drive for work, including factors such as traffic and technology and called for focused and appropriate upskilling of their drivers. The primary demand of BCAG members was to keep their drivers safe.

“Being a member of BCAG gives me the opportunity to shape the future of smart driver risk management,” explained Gary Bishop, Fleet Manager, Cannon Hygiene. “IAM has gathered together a vocal and knowledgeable group and is listening to what we have to say, so we expect great things to come from the group over coming years.”

Backing up this, Lesley Upham, IAM’s Commercial Director believed it would be able to get a more complete picture of the needs and situation fleet operators faced. “We are keen to provide cost effective and accessible training, through the channels people prefer using, that give drivers transferrable skills they can take from their professional lives to their personal ones. For businesses we aim to provide a high quality service that offers options to deliver effective fleet management for businesses across the country.”

Picture: Fleet operators are being challenged by the TTC Group to take its own test to improve their drivers’ performance behind the wheel

Article written by Robin Snow | Published 03 March 2016

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