A nationwide survey of 162 fleet operators by corporate sales managers at Kwik-Fit Fleet, Britain’s largest independent fast-fit organisation, has uncovered a widespread failure to embrace best practice in numerous risk management issues.

 

Key findings include:

 

• An amazing 56 fleet operators admitting that they had never conducted a risk management analysis of their company car and van drivers

 

• 99 of the 162 fleet operators surveyed also admitted they had not conducted a risk management analysis of employees who drive their own car on business even though the company could be prosecuted in the event of any incident

 

• Almost a fifth of companies (31) said they did not issue briefings/updates to drivers on key issues such as road safety, tax and legislation changes.

 

Many companies also fail to follow best practice advice in undertaking or arranging for basic vehicle safety checks to be carried out on all vehicles driven on business irrespective of who owns them. While 96 of the surveyed fleet operators from small, medium and large fleets said checks on tyre pressure and tread and on oil and water levels were completed  – with 82 organisations carrying them out weekly or monthly – 66 admitted they were not part of company policies.

 

Weaknesses were also highlighted in respect of making sure that private vehicles driven on business had the correct insurance cover in place and, if appropriate an MoT certificate. More than a third of companies (63) said they did not check if business insurance was in place and almost half of companies (79) did not check MoT details on vehicles over three-years-old.

 

Surprisingly, the Kwik-Fit Fleet survey discovered that 60 companies would pay fines, such as those for illegal parking or non-payment of the London congestion charge, incurred by drivers

 

The two bright spots from a managing occupational road risk best practice view were that 158 of the companies questioned undertake licence checks on all employees who drive on business, while 160 companies ban the use of hand-held mobile phones and 33 also ban the use of hands-free phones. However, four organisations do not currently carry out licence checks and two companies are encouraging staff to break the law by not strictly enforcing a ban on hand-held mobile phone use.

 

With a ban on smoking in public places, including light and heavy goods vehicles and minibuses used for hire purposes, in force in Scotland since March this year and a similar ban due to come into force in England in summer 2007, 67 fleet operators said they already banned smoking in company car and vans. A further 56 said they planned to introduce a ban in the future.

 

Given the fast-changing pace of fleet management, the survey found that while 101 fleet operators said they reviewed the manual issued to company car and van drivers annually and a further 20 undertook a two-yearly review, a total of 41 fleet decision-makers said they had never instigated a review.

 

Turning to speed cameras, fleet operators were almost equally divided as to whether they had contributed to a reduction in road crashes. A total of 86 believed they had helped, but 76 said they believed the prevalence of cameras had not helped to reduce road traffic accidents. Additionally, a majority of fleet operators believed speed cameras were introduced solely to generate revenue and not to improve road safety.

 

Kwik-Fit Fleet sales director Nigel Davies said: “Occupational road risk management has consistently featured as the number one fleet industry issue in recent years, yet our survey shows that in practice many fleets have much to do if they are to become safety champions.

 

“Given the publicity managing occupational road risk has had in the last six years we expected our survey to expose few weaknesses in fleet policies and procedures. Yet that is far from the truth

 

“With the Government’s Road Safety Bill due to become law before the end of the year, a Corporate Manslaughter Bill making its way through Parliament and the Government, police and the Health and Safety Executive focused on encouraging businesses to be pro-active in reducing the risk exposure of their business drivers our findings are extremely alarming.

 

“Not only do businesses have a legal and moral responsibility to manage occupational health and safety, but there are numerous case studies to show that companies that introduce best practice also make substantial cost savings and improve performance.”