As a fleet manager, you cannot afford to ignore compliance. 

Fleet compliance is key for avoiding expensive fines, reducing the risk of accidents and the legal fees attached to them, and ensuring the safety of your drivers and the motorists they share the road with. Additionally, as regulations and insurance requirements grow over time, the most effective fleet management practices will have compliance at their core.

That said, if you wish to limit your costs, keep more vehicles on the road, and reduce the number of accidents on record, a solid compliance approach is necessary. This blog will help you ensure your fleet is fully compliant.

Do you want to know why Fleet Risk Management is so important? Find out here.

How can you tell if your fleet is compliant?

Fleet compliance can seem complex at the outset, but it helps if you know what to look for. You can determine your fleet’s overall compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) and future regulations by taking a closer look at several critical areas:

• Your fleet vehicles. All vehicles must have regular inspections and maintenance performed on them, and must be fit-for-purpose. They must also have fully-operational safety features.

• Your fleet drivers. Drivers must be properly certified in handling the types of vehicles they’re assigned to. They should be totally aware of your company’s safe driving policies, and have licenses in good standing. 

• Procedures and operations. Journeys must be planned ahead of time, with thought given to driver safety, risk, rest stops, and overall working hours. Drivers should know how to deal with adverse weather, road work, or other conditions they may encounter.

• Management. A documented set of rules should govern how all vehicles, drivers, and general operations are managed. All tasks, responsibilities, and driver monitoring processes should be documented as well.

Make sure you have driver training tools at your disposal

Staying compliant also involves having a standardised training regimen in place — one that can reliably upskill your fleet operators and make them capable, responsible drivers.

Fleet driver training is important because it reduces accident risk. It increases skills in road risk awareness, defensive driving, vehicle care and control, and advanced safety techniques. The result: lower vehicle-related costs and increased driver safety.

SurePlan’s driver training programmes accomplish all of the above. Our web-based learning tool Driving Safer emphasises decision-making on the road, while the FleetCoach programme we recommend up-skills drivers in real-world scenarios through simulations and higher-level driving theory.

Understand risk, and how to evaluate it

It is not difficult to conduct risk assessments. You can easily appraise your fleet’s exposure to risk, and start patching up holes in compliance, by: 

1. Carefully reviewing potentially harmful or dangerous work tasks, especially anything related to driving.
2. Considering whether current safety procedures are actually keeping employees safe, and amending procedures as necessary.
3. Bringing in a person with expertise in compliance and risk assessment — in this case, a Health and Safety Manager who can ensure proper safeguards exist. 

The right accident management solution can be a huge boost to your risk assessment efforts. SurePlan’s accident management can take care of your third-party claims, vehicle repair, data collection, reporting and more in the event of road incidents. 

As a result, you’ll save money, increase uptime, and eliminate many of the hassles of admin work and post-accident compliance. Take our accident management quiz to see if an outsourced solution is right for you.

You know how important compliance is for your fleet, but how will you get there? Fortunately, it’s within your reach. Simply assess your current compliance level, implement driver training, and evaluate and proactively lower risks. In doing so, you’ll go far in keeping your fleet compliant and your drivers safe.