Are of “grey fleet” safety issues of particular concern to professionals.

Despite ongoing publicity surrounding the revisions to the corporate manslaughter act and corporate homicide act which came into force in April 2008 many companies, particularly SME’s have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and are failing to review, implement and communicate an effective Work Related Road Safety (WRRS) policy.

• Set up a company work related road safety policy: employers should not be daunted by the prospect, and once in place, providing it is enforced and reviewed periodically, it has been proven by many organisations to save money in terms of insurance premiums, accident repairs, out of service costs, accident administration, and employee sick leave/work injuries etc. Risk-assess the fleet across the five core areas: legislation, health and safety, environmental, employee and financial. Set out rules, guidelines and procedures to help minimize “in house” fleet and “grey fleet” related risks and put in place regular checks on insurance, MOT document’s, scheduled servicing and ensure basic maintenance checks are regularly carried out. Finally, ensure that an efficient audit trail is in place.

• Compile a “Driver Manual”: a driver manual should contain the company policy and procedures, safe driving information, emergency contact information, procedures for reporting defects and repairs, what should be done in the case of an accident and outline essential vehicle checks. It should be in A5 format, concise and easy to read and include practical advice.

• Treat all drivers the same: whether the employee is in a company car or drives their own vehicle (grey fleet), they should be treated exactly the same. The company work related road safety policy, driver manual and related training should be provided to all drivers. Businesses should ensure that all drivers regularly maintain their vehicles. Regular checks by the company should be made on:

• Check driving licenses: check any new employees driving license to confirm that they are eligible to drive. Implement a regular check on driving licenses to keep track of penalty points and possible driving bans and maintain a driver file to monitor driver’s safety records and behaviour.

• Ensure all drivers are prepared in the event of an emergency: company car users should be equipped with safety packs including torch, high visibility clothing, warning triangle, and breakdown contact information. Employers should ensure grey fleet drivers are supplied with exactly the same safety equipment.

• Ensure every driver carries a high visibility vest for each passenger: It is also important to store medical and emergency contact information as well as essential vehicle details and roadside assistance contact information inside the passenger cell of the vehicle together with the high visibility vests so that it is easily accessible.

• Education: carry out training where appropriate and warn against drugs and alcohol whilst driving. It is also important to give drivers plenty of time to get to their next location and don’t set impossible schedules – this is especially relevant in the delivery and courier sector where the setting of productivity bonuses which might affect driver safety will be viewed upon  negatively in the event of a road traffic incident.