Working out how much risk your drivers face is mostly common sense and shouldn’t be daunting. That was the message from road risk specialist Jeremy Hay, who addressed last week’s BusinessCar Live conference on the importance of risk assessment.
“I get companies ringing for help and I say, can’t we just do it over the phone? The problem is often so basic my mother would be able to advise them,” Hay said.
He flagged up two accessible – and cheap – resources for companies wanting to reduce the dangers faced by their drivers. First is a RoSPA document explaining how to Manage Occupational Road Risk (MORR for short), and second is the road death investigation manual available online at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) website.
Hay zeroed in on the questions that police officers ask business drivers in accident situations, and encouraged fleet managers to make sure their drivers were trained enough to reply. “It always amazes the police that people aren’t ready with the answers,” he said.
Driver education was also a key theme. “It’s one of the simplest processes I know. You put out a notice every month, something like ‘70% of accidents happen in 30mph zones. Please slow down in towns, guys’. Five minutes a month is all it takes,” Hay said.
