Driving Up Standards

Improving the driving standards of your firm’s commercial drivers and staff that regularly drive as part of their job takes both time and effort.  If you’re a senior fleet manager or owner manager in a commercial haulage or transport business you’ll know that keeping all your staff interested in improving road safety can have a massive impact on their road behaviour, potentially reducing the number of incidents and having a positive effect on your insurance risk profile.

What’s the best way to keep road safety on the radar for drivers?

Regular communication to raise awareness is essential. While a comprehensive driver induction for new staff is paramount, it’s important to have an ongoing focus on road safety standards for all your staff. Regular communication means that you take steps to raise awareness of risk factors or that you highlight a particular issue, at least every quarter and especially so when the seasons change, affecting road conditions.

There are plenty of resources available to help you. The theme for Brake’s 2016 Road Safety Week was Slow, Sober, Secure. (http://www.roadsafetyweek.org) highlighting some road safety facts and what happens when a driver exceeds the speed limit or is distracted.

• You’re 3 times more likely to crash if you’re performing a complex secondary task, like using a mobile, while at the wheel
• Breaking the speed limit or travelling too fast for the conditions is recorded by police at crash scenes as a contributory factor in more than one in four (27%) fatal crashes in Great Britain.
• Road crashes caused by poor driver vision are estimated to cause 2,900 casualties and cost £33 million in the UK per year so a regular eye test should be at the top of any driver’s to-do list.

How and when you communicate internally with your commercial drivers or staff who drive for work will vary but using email, putting up posters or flyers, holding briefing meetings or running a specific training session for say, young drivers, are just some of the ways you can keep safety uppermost in the minds of your drivers. And while the main focus of your communication is driving while working, there’s bound to be a positive effect on every driver’s behaviour outside working hours too.

Do remember if you’re employing drivers for whom English is not their first language, you may also need to provide information using translation services.

Andrew Bourne & Co spends time getting to know how your commercial haulage operation works. Our aim is to support you to improve the quality and regularity of your communication with drivers to improve road safety and reduce risks. We’ll work with you to create a bespoke insurance solution that’s responsive to your business and we will continue to support you to manage your risks more effectively. If you’d like to speak to us, call David Crowther or one of the team at Andrew Bourne and Co. on 0116 272 0770.

https://abournegroup.com/haulage/risk-management/duty-care-occupational-road-risks/