Standing room only at ‘In the Dock’

The importance of robust fleet safety management was highlighted with an ‘in the dock’ style drama at Safety & Health Expo’s second day, demonstrating the sort of questions a company would be asked in court for a driving for work related incident.

There wasn’t a single empty seat in the courtroom/ theatre, where the case of an IT worker involved in a road traffic accident while driving for work, was played out.

Risks, hazards and controls

The company, represented by their operations manager, blamed the worker for failing to follow procedures, however the prosecution managed to find flaws in the management systems within the company.

The dramatized case highlighted some of the areas fleet managers need to consider for employees who drive for work. These included:

• systems to check the competency of drivers
• the difference in policies and procedures between those who have company cars and those who use their own cars
• ensuring cars are maintained
• ensuring cars have MOTs, where applicable
• ensuring drivers have valid driving licences and understand their responsibility to update the company to any changes to their license
• business insurance
• ensuring workers are properly trained
• ensuring employee understand what is expected of them
• company’s driving policy
• vehicle safety
• route / journey planning
• servicing history.

Guilty

When questioned about the safeguards that were in place, the document checks, the audit trail and the missing paperwork, the operations manager was asked:

• is your role demanding?
• how long person been in role?
• were checks undertaken? By who exactly?
• why weren’t checks undertaken during employment?
• what safeguards were in place to ensure staff informed management about changes?
• were random audits ever undertaken?

After the company demonstrated poor safety management, a failure to monitor performance and a lack of effective management systems; the audience (or jury), unanimously declared a guilty verdict.

The aftermath

The room was then reminded of the damage a prosecution can have on a company, including:

• large fines
• damage to brand reputation
• adverse publicity
• difficulty being awarded future tenders
• increased insurance premiums.

Visit the fleet safety theatre today for your last chance to hear more information about how to help keep your fleet safe.

Driving for Better Safety - Free eBook download

This eBook will guide you through some of the key understandings you need to be able to manage driver safety effectively and, at the end, provide a series of free resources you can access to help you ensure your own driver safety management system is robust, legally compliant and in line with industry-accepted good practice.

Download this eBook from Driving for Better Business and SHP to cover:

• Why do we need to manage driver safety?
• Duty of care – a shared responsibility;
• Setting the rules with a driving for work policy;
• Managing driver safety;
• Ensuring safe vehicles;
• Safe journeys and fitness to drive;
• Record keeping;
• Reporting;
• The business benefits of good practice;
• Additional resources

Download Now