fleet insurance leading guide for fleet safety and efficiency

7/28/2019 Fleet Insurance Leading Guide for Fleet Safety and Efficiency

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Why Your Company Should Read This Guide

In February 2011 the first company in Great Britain was convicted of corporate manslaughter,

under the then comparatively New Act. The case of 27 year old Alex Wright, a geologist who

died in a trench in 2008, while employed by Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings made history.

Whatever type of company you run this is not the type of history youwish to make, no doubt. This article is the first in a series to assist

companies to focus on improving fleet safety by adopting a fleet

insurance company initiative-the Heightened Awareness Driving (H.A.D.)

Safety Program.

Even before the launch of the H.A.D. Safety Program, quite a number of

organisations have been taking action to improve how their employees

are driving for work with a strong focus on training company drivers.

Success for such a program has been found to be directly linked to the methods used to select

drivers. Additionally like training of any nature, repetition and frequency are vital ingredients.

Lets Look At Some Fleet Safety Data

90% of incidents are as a result of human error and safety initiatives need to be consistently

sustained in which they are required to involve change of culture in order to ensure that

improved behaviours are consistently maintained.

Organisations are mandated to take reasonable and practical steps that will assist them to

manage safe driving habits whereby failure to follow this may result in tough penalties with

exorbitant fines, custodial sentences for executives & employees, and negative publicity for the

organization.

Due to the magnitude of reckless driving, the government has placed responsibility on thebusiness owners and its executives to find ways of improving on their employee s road safety.

Organisations are also required to undertake fleet insurance.

Despite road transport safety improvement technologies over the previous year, driving for

work has been cited as one of the most dangerous activities an individual can undertake as

part of their daily office duties whereby driving for work has claimed approximately 75% of

workplace related deaths annually.Last year alone 28,000 people died and 40,000 were

seriously injured on British roads. Of these statistics, 33% of these incidents involved

individuals driving for work. Apart from the highly tragic results of these incidents, they also

had an economic impact which has been estimated at a cost to the economy of 1.6bn every

year.

Where Can We Begin To Resolve These Serious Fleet Safety Issues?

Driving for work is by its nature a very complex subject, which is best split into 3 different

aspects in order to tackle it:

Journey

Vehicle

Driver

Each of these areas has to be properly managed and this challenge can be assisted by

following the H.A.D. Safety Program, which can make your job somewhat easier.

Fleet And Company Legal Responsibilities

Organisations that have employees driving for them have a number of abiding responsibilities


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which they are required to undertake in addition to duties that employers are mandated under

road traffic acts administered by the police and VOSA.

There are some specific requirements binding the professional drivers such as those driving

passenger vehicles and large goods vehicles. This series of articles is going to dwell on

regulations that bind non-professional drivers like the:

Own vehicle driver

Company van driver (Below 3.5 tones)

Company car drivers


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How Following This Guide Will Help Reduce Fleet Costs

SAFETY REGULATIONS

The Government now includes vehicles, used for work reasons, as part

of the workplace. It is now required to ensure that others are not put

ask risk by the usage of work vehicles. The Health and Safety Act of1974, states that you must ensure the safety and health of your

employees are not put at risk as far as reasonably possible.

Periodic risk assessments and review of activities are also required by

health and safety regulations passed in 1999. These activities include driving for work

purposes, but not driving to or from work. The exception would be if you had to drive to a

different location than normal to get to work.

NEGLIGENCE

Negligence is whereby the actions or conduct fall below the standards written in the law

concerning safety against unreasonable risks. Under the law, concerning negligence, there ismanslaughter and homicide Act 2007. By this act a corporate body in England and Wales may

be prosecuted for Manslaughter; likewise, a corporation in Scotland may be prosecuted for

Homicide.

For a successful prosecution, a gross breach of these safety regulations is required. It must

then be proved that cause of death was influenced by a gross breach. This breach is normally

normally due to the way that the company or organization is managed and organized on an

executive or administrative level.

PENALTIES & SENTENCING

Under the laws concerning negligence a sentence can result in large fines for both the

company and the directors and up to 2 year custodial sentences. The large fines are likely tobe greater than 500k. Furthermore, it is now possible for the courts to make publicity

orders, whereby the company or organization is forced to reveal the offending breach of

conduct, which could be devastating for company image.

H.A.D. (Heightened Awareness Driving)

H.A.D. (Heightened Awareness Driving) can offer your organisation the tools it need to stay on

the right side of the law. While many benefits are offered, some are more measurable than

others. A few of the benefits include:

Reduced costs; improvement in driving standards plus fuel costs and repairs

Less working days wasted due to injury and sickness

Reduced risk of illness related to work Reduced stress in workplace

A happier team

Better service and fewer missed customer orders

Prioritised coaching interventions and training

Assure protection against brand damage caused by poor safety procedures

Improve driving standard sets a good model for others

Supports social responsibilities and a clean environment

The H.A.D (Heightened Awareness Driving) for fleet management, safety and fleet insurance

reasons is designed to help you to unlock these benefits and to stay on the right side of the

law.


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How You Can Get Started

Follow the Cover 4 Fleet Insurance simple instructions outlined here to increase the safety

awareness amongst the fleet drivers and management. Although theHeightened Awareness

Driving (H.A.D.) has been developed by this UK fleet insurance company, it is not for insurance

purposes, but to help you strengthen the fleet risk management and safety policies.

Making Your Heightened Awareness Driving Fleet Policy

The Health and Safety Executives guidelines are that in every organisation that employs sixpeople or more should possess a written policy regarding safety when Driving For Work.

The policy is a fundamental part of risk management, points the proper way for employees to

act, and is a crucial part of the driving at work culture. It is an excellent point to begin.

The Policy

It should not just be an unclear statement of intent; it should state clearly the conditions

regarding working in your business. It should also incorporate your policy on areas of danger

for Driving for Work.

This can include the following:

-Your companys goals regarding Driver Risk Management.- Policies Statement Regarding Being Safe on the Road

-Things Drivers are Responsible For

-Driver Fatigue Statement and Help

-Trip and Destination Planning

-Insurance Policies

-Avoiding cell phones and other things that may distract you policy

-Drug and Alcohol Policy

Driver Training

Regardless of whether a person, business, or other organisation completes a fleet drivertraining course, the results impact those who have not been directly associated with it.

Programs result in drivers knowing their responsibilities better and how this can influence the

people they work for. This is shown via enhanced driving methods, improved behaviors, and a

better attitude.

An improved look at road safety and driving by individuals will result in the company being

better viewed by the public, saving on operational costs, and protecting both people and

company property.


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And of course the lives and health of the driver, passengers, and other people on the road are

safeguarded more as well.

Besides the benefit given by safety companies will see a lowering of fuel expenses, vehicle

incidents, down time, and insurance rates.

The advantages of fleet driving programs often reach far beyond just the business, as the

information is passed on to their families and friends. Everybody involved will be better off

after this decision is made.


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Fleet Driver Risk Management

When a company has a fleet of vehicles that employees use with

business related practices there is a responsibility the company has

toward the employees. They need to have practice in operation called

the Fleet Driver Risk Management process. This will clearly define allsafety rules especially concerning over the road safety for the

employee. The person chosen to be the fleet driver risk manager should

be fully aware of all government regulations concerning health and

safety and all laws governing the roadways.

Risk Management Practice

When someone is managing a Fleet Driver Risk Management they should coordinate with other

risk management processes in the company and work closely with the safety guidelines inother areas. When a company is practicing good safety structures that have been previously

set up company-wide it will make it easier to expand this structure to the fleet management.

Enforcing the Safety Measures

When enforcing the safety measures in a company it is important to be constantly teaching

them. You cannot expect the rules and regulations to be instilled in employees with one safety

meeting and no reminders, especially when it comes to Fleet Driver Risk Management. Once a

month meetings should be planned to discuss safety.

Rewards are another good way to instill safety in the drivers, everyone likes to be recognized

for a job well done. You should speak to the employees in down to earth language to so theycan understand what you are teaching better.

Along with rewards the opposite is true for rule breakers. In most instances there is usually

one that does not want to follow the rules and they should be dealt with immediately to

prevent costs to the company.

When owning a fleet of vehicles in a company there are many costs that can escalate if you do

not have a Fleet Driver Risk Management process in place. Accidents can drive insurance costs

skyward, replacing vehicles can become an astronomical cost and injuries to the drivers can

basically break the company bank. Being prepared for the unexpected is a good rule of

thumb. Instilling health and safety including road safety to your employees is a vital practice

to have.For a competitive quote go to find out more about commercial fleet insurance now.


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Getting A System In Place

The Heightened Awareness Driving (H.A.D.) initiative has been

developed by Cover 4 Fleet Insurance, the UK fleet insurance company,

to help management and drivers in companies to reinforce and build up

excellent fleet safety and driving practices.

To manage work-related fleet safety issues and road safety activities an

organisation needs a proper fleet safety system in place. The system

should be able to provide ways to manage and identify all of the risks

and also allow checking of the audit records. The system should provide methods to analyse,

record and gather information related to vehicle history, details of driver s record and data

about the road accidents.

Fleet Safety Systems Scope

The system should provide the ability to manage the main features of Driver Risk Management

that has just been mentioned, i.e. Vehicle, Driver and Journey. While what is present on thefleet may be obvious, when it involves fleet vehicles, all the information related to their

mileage, safety features, accident history and maintenance may not be clear.

Similar data may not be available for grey fleet vehicles where personal vehicles are being

provided by the employees and being used for the business. Similar to the information related

to the fleet vehicles this type of data is also important.

The fleet safety system should provide the required data with the assessment of the

associated risks on:

All fleet vehicles including the grey fleet

History of accidents

Road worthiness and MOT/ History of maintenance

History of claims/insurance

Information about the driver (including the driver of the vehicle from family or friend)

All the details about license, categories and endorsements held

Training interventions provided

All the information related to Driver Risk Management should be provided by the fleet safety

system so that the right decision can be taken, avoiding the risks.

Data

After the data has been collected and placed in a suitable format, the next thing to do is to use

it and after going through the data one should be able to reduce the risks. After checking the

data, the user should be able to take the right decision about how much the existing policiesare effective and if there is any requirement for change.

For instance, activities of drivers who are responsible for more damage and accidents can be

considered for the review.

This review can check:

All the planning about journey

What type of roads were used and whether safe roads like Motorways may be better to use

Ideas from the drivers about improving the standards

Driver License checks data trends related to the conviction and endorsements history

Issues related to attitudinal or behaviour

Whether some differences have been noticed because of Computer Based Learning or DriverTraining

Want to get a quote now? Go to the Cover 4 Fleet Insurance website.


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Don't Forget The Importance Of Ongoing Reviews And Enhancements

As your organisation makes the program its own, ongoing value and

lessons can be found by incorporating the practice of reviewing and

enhancing the Cover 4 Fleet Insurance H.A.D. program.

Follow these simple instructions to reap the benefits.

Firstly your organisation needs to establish a number of well-designed implementations when

assessing the fleet safety program, including:

SMART

S = Stretch

M = Measure

A = Achieve

R = Realistic

T = Time

* Describe the return on the investment from indicated activities

* Assess suppliers in terms of value to the DRM program, as well as within the normal

procurement criteria

* Cease and refrain from any and all further activities which are not measurable or does not

add any value.

There are several different variables that may increase value to the Driver Risk Management

Program. It is important to remember to always reinforce good behavior, so one should

consider an arrangement of gain share with each of the drivers about reducing insurance

premiums. Another idea may even be considering a share of financial gain from improving fuel

efficiency with the organization. Lastly, remember to assess risks and execute interventions

for an employees family and friends who have access to any of the fleet vehicles.

Remember to Reflect and Regroup

Upon beginning this long journey, it is important to know and understand what went well, what

did not go well, and what happened that was different regarding previous plans. As with all

cycles of improvement, the process is constant and never completed, but it is improvable. This

may take different forms such as greater returns on investments and more safety

improvements. The most important part of a successful review is to ensure that the accuracy

of all data, therefore gaining great measures of financial benefits and risk improvement.

How to Present Savings

Consider the savings from a business as both hard and soft, meaning measurable financial and

less misplaced orders, respectively. For instance, if a program saves a business approximately

50k of hard savings per year with a net profit of 5%, then sales must be increased by at least

1m to ensure the same impact to the bottom line.

Always remember to attain New Starters and bring them into the program. Then stop live

records for leavers. (However, it is important to utilize good practice by retaining data on any

leavers for no less than seven years.) Some organizations use risk assessments such as Driver

Risk Management as part of the recruitment and selection process.


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Update Policies

As in most areas of business, this vigorous process keeps getting faster and much more

difficult to sustain. Policies should always indicate what has been learned from

practicing Driver Risk Management, as well as the organizations determination to continue

incorporating improved Road Safety as a main mission of importance. All policies should also

include any changes according to the law, as well as any technological developments, including

Sat Navigation, Mobile Phones/PDAs, Active Cruise Controls or Lane Departure Warnings.

For more information on fleet safety for employers the ROSPA website is also a very helpful

resource.

fleet insurance leading guide for fleet safety and efficiency

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