| Christopher Bullock, IAM Chief Executive, looks
at how its acquisition of Drive & Survive has created a
powerful force in commercial risk management and driver training |
Christopher Bullock |
 |
| “Road safety practitioners
know that the majority of those ‘accidents’ are
a direct result of driver error” |
|
Occupational road risk (ORR) is one of those bits of jargon that,
quite frankly, doesn’t really mean all that much to the man
or woman in the street. Mr and Mrs Average probably don’t
know what it is, or worse, don’t really care. But when you
translate ORR into lives lost, suddenly the jargon takes on a meaning.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that of the 3,400
people killed and 300,000 injured on Britain’s roads each
year, a staggering one third are motorists travelling on business.
We live in a pressurised world and, clearly, company drivers are
not immune to that. Road safety practitioners know that the vast
majority of those “accidents” are, in fact, a direct
result of driver error. That’s why we at the IAM were pleased
when we were recently able to acquire leading fleet risk management
provider Drive & Survive. And I for one am delighted to now
be part of Drive & Survive’s future.
It has a deserved reputation for innovative and highly-effective
risk management solutions, and fits comfortably with our new strategy
and objectives. Drive & Survive already makes a major contribution
to road safety as one of the leading providers of risk management
and driver training for those who drive as part of their work.
Though under the IAM umbrella, Drive & Survive will continue
to operate as an autonomous business from new premises in Oxfordshire.
The acquisition of Drive & Survive also includes all the equipment
to deliver its specialist off-road driver training courses. Now
that Drive & Survive is part of the IAM, there will be the
flexibility to deliver these in a number of locations in the UK.
Drive & Survive has been providing qualified driver training
since 1985, and now provides fleet safety audits, on-line risk
assessments, E-Learning, group seminars, on-road advanced driver
training and all the supporting materials needed to assist fleets
in reducing their exposure to road risk. The IAM is already the
leading provider of Advanced Driving Tests. With our existing activity
through IAM Fleet Training, the acquisition of Drive & Survive
has made the IAM the biggest force in commercial risk management
and driver training.
Despite the importance of ORR, there are still many organisations
with their heads buried in the sand over fleet risk management
and driver training. One company that was always way ahead of the
game is business information specialist Dun & Bradstreet. Group
Fleet and Travel Manager Gary Kent came into the role via credit
analysis and purchasing, and brought a certain entrepreneurial
flair to the fleet department. “One of the first things I
did when I took on the fleet management aspects of my job was to
look long and hard at costs,” he says. “In the early
days, we were claiming 150% of our insurance premiums annually,
so it was pretty obvious that it was going to come back and bite
us at some point! In those days, fleet driver training was just
getting off the ground and information was hard to come by.
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“Somebody I met from Du Pont was singing the praises of
his training programme with Drive & Survive, so I invited them
and one other training provider to run a pilot scheme. Drive & Survive
came out on top and we started with them properly in 1986. The
results of the programme have been quite startling. We’ve
driven down accident rates significantly, which has made it possible
to save more money by insuring third party only and to manage our
own accident costs. ”
To illustrate what Gary means by “startling”, just
look at the figures: In monetary terms, the losses in 1999 amounted
to just £82, 656, compared to a staggering £217,999
back in 1992. And the trend continues to this day, with costs continuing
to fall steadily. Gary runs his fleet in a highly-structured way.
As part of their terms and conditions, every new employee receives
driver training within six months of joining and has to take a
refresher every two years. Any driver responsible for an “at-fault
accident” (as decided by Drive & Survive, not the company)
has to attend a half day refresher training session, as well as
pay 5% of the repair cost – and regular colliders could find
themselves with a used car, rather than a shiny new one. All non-UK
licence holders have to go through a half-day UK familiarisation
course too.
The Dun & Bradstreet driver training fund is effectively
self-generating – each company cost centre pays a modest
insurance charge, based on the previous year’s premium, and
then pays the first £200 of every claim, plus a £150
internal administration charge to process it. But not all elements
of the process are punitive. “I run a Safe Driver Draw,” continues
Gary. “All those who have a totally claims-free year stand
to win the use of a luxury car for a week.” Gary continues “The
fleet driver training programme, along with a couple of other related
initiatives, has been so successful that I’ve managed to
turn the fleet department from a cost centre into a profit centre.
In fact we now run several outside fleets as well and I reckon
that this department generates an average of £100,000 a year
for the company!” With support from the IAM and case studies
such as that one under its belt, we are confident that Drive & Survive
will continue to make a practical contribution to driver behaviour
that has a significant impact on occupational road safety. |
