Driver Solutions relating to occupational road risk are many and varied, however they should generally follow a process as follows: -
Individual Risk Assessment
In order to evaluate levels of skill and competency amongst your company business drivers, they should first have to undergo an individual risk assessment. The deliverables for a comprehensive risk assessment are as follows:-
- You will be better informed as to the level of driving risk that your Company is exposed to
- You will obtain an accurate measure of driving ability so that meaningful training decisions can be made.
- You will identify drivers who are too dangerous to be on the road without immediate corrective action.
- You will be more aware of actions taken by management/drivers which increase the risk of an accident or fatality.
Driver Training
Under current Health and Safety legislation, every company has a duty of care to ensure that all occupational drivers are competent. Competence is achieved through training. The law stops short of making training compulsory, however the responsibility exists and it is left to each company to make the arrangements it sees fit.
Where an employee driving on company business is held responsible for a serious accident or fatality and is subsequently found not to be competent, then the company and individual Directors can be held liable.
The Costs of Training
The costs of driver training will vary dependant on the outcome of your individual risk assessments as there are basically two types of training available. Firstly, classroom training Secondly, and recommended for all ‘High Risk’ drivers, ‘Behind the Wheel’ training, whereby drivers are taught critical road skills and techniques for ‘defensive driving’, helping them to avoid potentially hazardous situations.
In addition to the assessment of the driving community and the training of higher risk drivers some additional support activities are essential -
Driving Licence Checks
In order to maintain sufficient duty of care, then it is essential that all employees before driving on company business, are vetted to ensure that they have a valid and current drivers licence.
Insurance Document Checks
Due to the large population of Client drivers driving their own vehicles on company business, it is vitally important that measures are put in place to verify the adequate insurance of these vehicles / drivers for regular business use.
Fleet Safety Policy
It is recommended that actions and precautions are collectively presented to company business drivers as an indication of best practice and policy. Thus it is recommended that the aspects of health and safety that specifically relate to business driving, such as prohibiting of the use of mobile phones whilst driving, and those that are of particular importance, albeit not exclusively, to drivers, such as the consumption of alcohol and the use of drugs, should be contained within a ‘Fleet Safety’ policy to which employees must subscribe in order to drive on company business.
