What is a duty of care and who does it apply to?

All companies have a duty of care towards their employees to maintain their health and safety
at work. To assess whether you are fulfilling your duty of care responsibility when it comes to the
safety of your employees who drive for work, you should ask yourself a few simple questions.

• Does your company have comprehensive road safety policies (in writing for companies
with five or more employees), supported by management?

• Are road safety management procedures in place, including risk assessments to eradicate
or minimise risk?

• Are employees provided with relevant information, training and supervision to be safe on
the road?

• Does your company regularly audit the safety of journeys and amend policies and
procedures accordingly when new risks are identified?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, the company may not be fulfilling its duty of care.
If this is the case you need to take urgent steps to remedy this, as neglecting to fulfil your duty
of care could lead to the injury or death of employees or members of the public, and fines or
even prison.

(Brake Fleet Forum)

The Corporate Manslaughter Act 2008

On April 6 2008 the long awaited Corporate Manslaughter Act came into effect. Companies or organisations whose gross negligence causes the death of an individual now face prosecution
for manslaughter.

As a result of the new law, all companies, organisations and Government bodies will be affected.
All will face unlimited fines if they are found to have caused death due to their gross corporate
health and safety failures.

The long awaited Corporate Manslaughter Act is a landmark in law following more than 10 years
of campaigning by unions and other groups. Employees of companies, consumers and other
individuals will be offered greater protection against corporate negligence. The new law will focus
the attention of companies and organisations by ensuring that they take their health and safety obligations seriously.

By delivering a more effective basis for corporate liability, the new law will make it easier for
companies and organisations (large and small) to be prosecuted. Stumbling blocks to successful prosecutions have been removed.

The new law complements the current law under which individuals can be prosecuted for gross negligence, manslaughter and health and safety offences. This occurs when there is direct
evidence of their involvement. The Act builds on existing health and safety legislation – so the new offence does not impose new regulations on businesses.

It is estimated that one in three of the 3 million company cars on the roads will be involved in a
collision every year. The Health & Safety at Work Act, Corporate Manslaughter legislation and case
law all mean that employers must consider what risks their employees are involved with –
even when they are driving.

Grey Fleet

There are many risks associated with grey fleet vehicles – those that are not company vehicles
but are used for business travel.

Grey fleet vehicles can be anything from a cash-for-car, a car obtained via an employee car
ownership scheme, a privately-owned vehicle or a vehicle that the employee has hired outside of
any company-provided scheme.

However, just because an employee does not use a company-provided vehicle for a business
journey does not absolve the company or the fleet manager from their duty of care responsibilities.

The law is clear – the company still has a legal duty of care to that employee, regardless of vehicle ownership so the grey fleet needs to be managed in exactly the same way as company owned or leased vehicles.

How do we help?

DSA (Driving Standards Agency)  Fleet Qualified instructors, provide courses to combine both
theory and practical training. The theory aspect looks at the risk and impact to individuals and
offers advice tailored to the organisation. The practical in-car assessments and training raise awareness of the individual driver to their responsibilities.

Licence Checking: This ensures that drivers are properly licensed to drive the category of vehicle required and will identify drivers with poor history/excessive points thus allowing fleet managers
to take a more informed view as to suitability of employees to drive.
Medical Checking:
To make sure the driver is fit to drive.
Vehicle assessments:
It is very important to establish whether the driver is competent to look for any defects that could
result in a failure of the vehicle before the journey. training for company car and van drivers can dramatically reduce the risk of accidents/crashes.
Driver Theory:
Advice on his/her driving experience confirms that there are many benefits from the theory
presentation to drivers, reminding them of matters such as daily/weekly vehicle checks, safe
driving practice and the requirement to follow correct procedures for reporting accidents/crashes.
Accidents:
A requirement for drivers to report accidents permits subsequent investigation, not for the allocation
of blame but to learn as much as possible from the experience so that remedial measures may be considered to reduce the likelihood of any recurrence.


Fleet Driver Training Helps:

Reduce vehicle costs
Reduce insurance
Reduce repairs
Reduce fuel costs
Less days off work for drivers, missed orders, bad publicity
Compliance with relevant legislation
the drivers understanding and knowledge of road risks
the company
Road Safety
the community

In the current financial saving climate many companies are looking for ways to cut down costs.
For that reason. Our experienced fleet trainers, who are experts in the field of road safety, will offer
the best standard of fleet driver training to the company offering professional advice.