Fleet Risk Management
Driving at work is one of the most dangerous activities an employee will undertake, making Fleet Risk Management a critical activity within organisations.
According to Brake, the road safety charity, 1,516 people were killed, and over 22,000 were seriously injured on the roads in the UK in 2020. A total of 115,584 casualties of all severities in road traffic crashes were recorded. These numbers are lower when compared with the previous five years due in part to the lockdown measures imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fleet Risk Management | How Can We Help?
EVP offer a comprehensive evaluation of the fleet risk within your organisation as part of your overall fleet strategy.
Our review covers all elements of the fleet including company cars, commercial vehicles, cash takers and the grey fleet.
We adopt a three-step approach:
- Establish the fleet risk baseline identifying what risks exist in relation to the vehicle, driver and journeys.
- Complete a full risk assessment establishing the likelihood and impact of each individual risk.
- Recommend and manage interventions to control risks.
This process has several benefits to your organisation:
- Enhances the safety culture of the organisation.
- Provides a fully auditable structure to manage the ongoing risk as it evolves, which is compliant with Health and Safety legislation.
- Identifies interventions that are cost-effective to implement.
- Reduce ongoing fleet costs through lower insurance, accident costs and lost worker productivity.
To find out more about our fleet risk service then please get in touch
Why Manage the Fleet Risk?
Managing fleet risk has many benefits for organisations. Firstly, it’s the right thing to do for both your employees and any member of the public. Many organisations manage risk in many other areas of their operations that do not have the same potential impact if something goes wrong.
There is also a significant financial benefit to managing the risk. Vehicles involved in incidents will need recovering and repairing, or replacing. In addition, there will be insurance to deal with in more severe incidents and could even lead to court cases or other proceedings, all of which absorb a large amount of administrative effort.
Individuals involved may also spend time off work with the associated loss of productivity. Key personnel could also stop some areas of the business from functioning altogether.
The actual cost of incidents is estimated to be many multiples of any bent metal repair cost.
The Process For Managing Fleet Risk
Phase 1 | Establish the Baseline
Collect information from all areas of the fleet, including company cars, vans, HGV’s as well as cash takers, daily hire and the grey fleet. The data should cover the following:
Driver – driver age, licence details, job role, working hours, health assessments, eyesight and incident history records
Vehicle – vehicle type (e.g. Commercial vehicle), interior build, typical load including materials or gasses carried, towing requirement, MPG, tax, insurance and maintenance records.
Journey – mileage, fuel, timing, frequency, telematics data and work schedules.
Accidents – details of incidents, near misses, costs and employee days lost.
Policies and Procedures – obtain and review all fleet-related information
Stakeholder Input – views of staff who are using or are impacted by the vehicle fleet.
Phase 2 | Risk Assessment
The risk assessment should identify those areas of concern covering any aspect of the operation of the fleet.
Prioritise risks with action plans in place that have the support of senior management. Moreover, action plans should have target dates and specific owners. Finally, the senior management team should regularly review the plans.
Identify and measure control measures so that you can see their effectiveness.
Phase 3 | Interventions to Manage the Risks
The risk assessment should be the ongoing blueprint for managing the risk within the organisation. For any risks you identify, you should have a plan to rectify them. Some of those risks will require active interventions by the organisation.
Interventions could include the following:
Policy – Changes to policy documentation such as the driver handbook, driving at work or company car policy. In addition, the introduction and review of policies relating to mobile phones, smoking in vehicles, distractions, health, eyesight, loading and towing.
Vehicle Selection – changes to vehicle selection criteria – to include safety equipment or driver aids
Vehicle Checks – documentation, walkaround checks, MOT’s and defect reporting
Driver Interventions – driver licence checks, individual risk assessments and driver training.
Journey Planning – planning to avoid bad weather, accident hotspots or avoiding the journey altogether.
Training – provide training to managers to help them manage their employees consistent with the overall fleet risk strategy.
Communications – communicate the action plan and interventions to relevant stakeholder groups both within and outside the organisation, such as suppliers or consultants.
Share information regarding the progress of activities with the entire organisation to harness a culture of fleet risk reduction. Also, ask for support with messages from senior management. Finally, make reporting available to the workforce to demonstrate the impact actions have made on the organisation and the benefits attached.
Keep records of the actions you take to mitigate risk and provide a complete audit trail in the event of a severe incident.
The Ultimate guide to fleet risk management
Driver Management
An effective fleet driver management system can save businesses thousands of pounds every year. Through areas such as license checks, training, and telematics fleets can maintain and improve service delivery whilst increasing financial and operational efficiencies.
License Checks
A key element in mitigating fleet risk for a business is to ensure that every driver or employee that’s part of their fleet has the legal right to be on the road.
Regularly check an individual’s risk potential and driving license entitlement to prevent a person’s risk to themselves and other road users.
Every business that has a fleet of vehicles must comply and adhere to certain legal obligations:
- Keep track of, and adequately review company car vehicle insurance and tax, ensuring all fleet vehicles are roadworthy.
- Ensure all employees that carry out business millage have a license to drive.
- Take necessary measures to maintain and improve safety standards for company drivers and other road users.
Training
Implementing and improving driver training can have great safety and economic benefits for your fleet.
Providing economic driving training for your employees will develop drivers’ knowledge on how best to map out routes, and source cheap local prices for fuel, helping employees make the most of their fuel consumption.
Training for driver safety awareness is also beneficial when managing fleet risks. Boosting drivers’ understanding of road safety will mitigate accident risks, helping your fleet minimise the chances of an accident occurring.
Telematics
The use of telematics systems can support the transformation a fleet’s operations. Systems track vehicle movements via GPS systems and can be used with vehicles, plant and other equipment. Telematics systems can be used to provide in-vehicle feedback to drivers concerning speed, harsh braking as well as providing vehicle route planning.
Vehicle Checks
Legally, every employer must make sure that their vehicles are road legal and in full working order.
It is important that your fleet of vehicles undergo regular checks to ensure they remain mechanically sound and fit for work on the road.
Inspections such as basic safety checks by drivers before use of the vehicle and regular maintenance inspections based on mileage, or time, will greatly improve overall fleet safety.
Walkaround Daily Checks
Before setting off on a journey, drivers should conduct a series of internal and external checks to make sure the car is fit to drive. This applies to cars, light commercial vehicles, and HGV vehicles.
Cars and Light Commercial Vehicles
- Cleanness of windscreen, windows, mirrors, lights, and license plate to ensure good visibility
- Condition of the tires and tire pressure
- Condition of windscreen wipers
- Security of trailer or load attached to the vehicle
- Condition of windows, lights, bodywork, and windscreen
- Fuel and oil leaks
HGV
Drivers must have an Operator’s license to operate HGV vehicles. An O license is the legal authority needed to operate a heavy goods vehicle in the UK. You need this license to operate a vehicle above 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight that is used to carry goods on public roads for business or trade purposes.
HGV drivers must check:
- That reflectors are correct and clean
- Diesel exhaust fluid levels
- Security of cabin and guards
- Condition of spray suppression flaps if necessary
- Condition of brake lines and trailer parking brake
- Electrical connections condition check
- The vehicle and trailer are secure
- Check the visibility of markings and warning plates
Internal Checks
Cars and Light Commercial Vehicles
- Mirror positioning
- Seatbelt use and condition
- Seat and headrest position
- Warning, brake lights and headlights
- Fuel level
- Indicator function
- Washers and wipers condition
HGV
- Check power-assisted steering function
- Correct brake air build-up and warning system function
- Check height marker for correct vehicle height
Weekly checks
- Battery condition
- Engine oil
- Coolant levels
- Windscreen wash
Grey Fleet Risk Management
In the UK, it is a legal requirement under the Health and Safety at Work Act for any grey fleet vehicle to be verified road legal, and for a business to be able to give evidence of correct legal documentation for each employee.
This includes insurance, MOT, and driving license checks.
When a privately owned vehicle is driven on company business, it then becomes the organisation’s responsibility. Estimates suggest that there are 14 million grey fleet vehicles on the road, driving 12 billion miles every year, enforcing the need for rigorous safety measures.
Furthermore, figures published from a recent Enterprise Rent-A-Car project revealed that 54% of grey fleet drivers do not conduct regular vehicle inspection measures.
As a business with a grey fleet, it is imperative that grey fleet drivers are proficient in vehicle safety checks, assisting in-vehicle training and guidance should any issues arise.
What can we do to help?
EVP has extensive experience in helping organisations manage and improve their fleet risk mitigation strategy.
We believe that good fleet risk management is an essential part of maintaining a safe workplace and road space for all road users.
So, why not get in touch for more information on how we can optimise your organisation’s fleet risk strategy?