A comment from Sgt Gareth Morgan of South Wales Police at the recent ACFO conference caught my eye.
He said: “Psychometric testing could guard against corporate manslaughter charge; says top cop”
Morgan said: “Psychometric profiling encourages drivers to reflect on their thoughts and change their driving behaviour.
“It delivers behavioural and attitudinal change and, by coaching and mentoring, improvements can be benchmarked that are recognised by the courts.”
I have great respect for the police and think they do a good job, although from the extracts I’ve seen from his talk I feel he is implying that only psychometric profiling delivers improvements that are recognised by the courts.
I do not believe there is any proof for this inference. There have been just two successful prosecutions under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, but neither was linked to fatalities involving at-work drivers.
If there has never been a prosecution involving at-work drivers, how can anyone claim any driver profiling system will be recognised by the courts?
Sgt Morgan also stated “police forces across the UK are waiting to convict liable fleet operators under corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide legislation”.
Call me an old cynic but haven’t they been saying that for years and with an estimated third of all fatalities involving an at-work driver, surely they would have found at least one company to prosecute by now?
It may sound like I am knocking psychometric profiling – I am not! There are two types of driver profiling systems, the psychometric system and the systems that look at drivers’ key skills such as knowledge, observation and hazard perception.
Both types of profiling are, I believe, useful tools in the fleet managers tool box, and deciding which system to use will depend on what you want to achieve.
For profiling drivers, I would recommend looking at as many different systems as possible, but be clear on why you are doing it.
There is more than one reason for embarking on a driver development programme and the fear of prosecution should not be at the top of the list. If it is, you will achieve little.
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