FLEET SAFETY
48


Reducing the risks


The Fleet Safety Association offers everything from
debate to training to improve driver standards


As a forum for the Fleet Risk Management and Driver Training Industry, the Fleet Safety Association has evolved from the merger of the Fleet Forum and Fleet Driver Training Association.
The aim of the Association is to aid the evolution of fleet risk management and the development of appropriate driver-training standards.

The scope includes:

  • Promoting the benefits of the road risk management industry;
  • Providing a channel for communication and consultation;
  • Facilitating an exchange of ideas and best practice among members.
We still need driver-trainers to provide high-quality training and practical on-road driving assessments
The Association is open to the widest participation; there are no membership subscriptions and, apart from the secretariat providing the necessary continuity, meetings are hosted and chaired by individual members on a rotational basis.
This simple format has proven itself to be highly efficient through the quarterly general meetings, which are popular, and the periodic 'round table' sessions that are called when there are particular issues for discussion and action.
There are now 49 member organisations representative of not only driver training providers, but also insurance companies and brokers, risk management companies, solicitors, local authorities, other trade associations inclusive of the road haulage industry, driving instructors and so on. At the quarterly meetings, there is usually a topical presentation organised by the host - subjects have included best practice within a large logistics organisation, an update from the HSE and interactive hazard perception testing.
Following the work of the Work Related Road Safety Task Group and within the remit of the government initiative of Managing Occupational Road Risk, there have been many developments focusing employers on the overall safety picture of occupational driving. There is a logical trend towards assessing drivers and identifying individual training needs rather than simply providing in-vehicle training for the whole workforce.
There is considerable debate about the effectiveness of the on-screen-interactive driver assessment programmes. Do they provide an accurate assessment or just another computer game? Some drivers report giving the answers they think are required rather than their true response. Whatever your view on this, the time comes when an in-vehicle, on-road intervention is required. Yes, we still need driver-trainers to provide high-quality training and practical on-road driving assessments. As the old adage states, "you never forget a good teacher" and this has been a fundamental philosophy of the Fleet Safety Association and its forbears in the initiative to establish trainer and training standards.
After a long period of development and consultation, the Driving Standards Agency launched the Register of Fleet Driver Trainers in April 2002. The government's Road Safety Strategy: Tomorrow's Roads - Safer for Everyone announced that the DSA would introduce such a scheme to set standards for instructors who specialise in

fleet training and help raise the profile of the training on offer to occupational drivers and their employers. Applicants to join this Register must already be qualified Approved Driving Instructors, who have either undertaken further training with a DSA accredited training organisation or passed a three-part fleet-trainer examination conducted by the DSA. Many members of the FSA are proud to be among those now accredited by the DSA and take pride in the quality of their trainers.

The FSA has developed a Code of Conduct in consultation with the DSA

All members agree that:

1. They are associated professionally in the provision of services connected with occupational driver risk management;
2. They will provide clients with documentation confirming the scope of any service offered;
3. They will not misrepresent themselves in any literature or otherwise in compliance with the Trade Descriptions Act 1968;
4. They will have appropriate public liability, employer liability, professional indemnity and personal accident insurance cover in place;
5. They will have a documented quality control system and complaints procedure which is open to inspection;
6. They will take all reasonable steps possible to ensure that training venues or premises comply with relevant legislation in respect of Health and Safety.

Many members of the FSA are proud to be among those now accredited by the DSA

Additionally, driver-training providers agree that:

7. All trainers engaged in providing tuition in Category B vehicles will be a DSA registered ADI. Those providing tuition in other categories will have held the appropriate driving licence for a minimum of three years and will be registered on any appropriate DSA register;
8. All trainers engaged will hold a full licence for the category of vehicle they are providing training in;
9. Within their "Terms and Conditions" of business, they will ensure that appropriate vehicles are used for training and that such vehicles are covered by insurance for Road Traffic Act purposes and comply with the Construction and Use Regulations;
10. They will ensure that all trainees have current and lawful authorisation to drive the vehicle in question on the roads of the United Kingdom or country in which training is being delivered and that they can meet current eyesight standards for driving.

I make no apology for the factual nature of this article. I am grateful to Roadsafe for the opportunity to assure directors responsible for occupational drivers and individuals responsible for their own driving that it is possible to source training interventions from companies that have effective regulation and quality control of fleet driver trainers.

For further information contact:
Paul Jobson, Secretary at: IAM House,
510 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5RG.
Telephone 020 8996 9700.
E-mail: fleetsafetyassociation@hotmail.com


 

 

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