Even for the most diligent fleet manager, it’s hard to keep tabs on everything that poses a risk to the company fleet. Get everything ‘right’ and you can still find yourself awakened by late-night road incidents, only to deal with the costs and admin from vehicle downtime, liabilities, and third-party negotiations.
Through the holiday season, is your fleet in great working order, ready to face the new year? If not, now’s the time to take corrective action.
Managing the health and safety of the drivers in your vehicle fleet can be challenging. Some accidents - like unknown vehicle faults or car park mishaps - aren't considered preventable. But front- and rear-end collisions, improper lane changes, inappropriate parking, and carelessness at intersections are usually avoidable by skilled fleet drivers, even when the other, non-employee party is at fault.
Complying with health and safety rules should be top of mind when you have a fleet to supervise. With the responsibility of keeping your drivers safe, you are likely imagining every way possible to reduce road accidents.
Fleet risk can arise at any time. And, while you can sometimes handle it with few complications, some fleet vulnerabilities can quickly lead to legal issues.
As a PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking) under the Health and Safety Work Act, you’re responsible for a number of situations that can leave your fleet liable, all of which threaten health and safety (H&S) compliance and can lead to major costs. For example, failure to keep workers from using dangerously defective vehicles could lead to a maximum fine of $300,000.
The benefits of a strong fleet risk management programme are obvious: less cost to the company, a lower chance of driver accidents, and fewer legal complications.
However, the advantages may not be obvious to the senior leaders of your company, whose approval and support you’ll need when introducing risk management to the corporate culture. Add to that the pressure of quickly understanding complex health and safety regulations, having company-wide compliance fall on your shoulders, and the task can seem pretty impossible.
The culture of any organisation starts with what’s happening at the top. Company leaders are the ones who set the tone for all employees to follow, and this is especially true when setting a culture of health and safety for a mobile workforce.
Health and Safety regulations can feel burdensome to follow, especially when a mobile workforce is involved. The whole organisation needs to be on board, or any given fleet accident could spell serious legal trouble for your company.
When managing a mobile workforce, risk can seemingly come from all angles. As a person conducting business or undertaking (PCBU), thoroughly making sure of employee safety can be an intimidating prospect. And, it can feel overwhelming to action risk awareness within a company that's set in its ways.
Whatever the size or type of business you're in, health and safety plays a significant role in your operation and the protection of your employees. Particularly now with a number of changes to the Health and Safety at Work Act that many are unaware of.
