James Sutherland

"The new regulations should be the catalyst for light commercial vehicle fleets to put their fleet safety records in order"

Driver training and risk assessment in the light commercial vehicle sector has a long way to go before reaching the take-up levels that are being consistently achieved in the company car market, according to experts. But, with companies across Britain winning contracts on the basis that they can guarantee delivery of goods by van within just a few hours of the order or parcel being received, they are amongst some of the most at-risk drivers in the country, invariably spending more time behind the wheel than many of their company car colleagues. The 21st-century demand for just-in-time deliveries and top-notch customer service frequently involves van drivers putting both themselves and other road users at risk to meet both the demands of customers and delivery schedules set by their bosses.

If they are involved in a crash, the cost to the company in terms of driver and vehicle downtime, missed delivery times, trip rescheduling and corporate reputation can be considerable, making the need for adequate risk assessment even more compelling. Unlike HGV and bus drivers, those at the wheel of light commercial vehicles do not have their working day limited by the number of hours they are allowed to drive or the amount of rest time they must have in between stints behind the wheel. However, both the European Union and the UK government have realised that and are set to crackdown on “white van man” with the introduction next year of new rules governing working hours as well as seatbelt use (see page 89). In the future, more legislation could demand the fitting of digital tachographs to light commercial vehicles and companies with van fleets could have to obtain an Operator’s Licence just as HGV fleets must – an issue raised by the Work-Related Road Safety Task Group.

Jim Kirkwood, managing director of DriveTech (UK), is blunt in his assessment: “Light commercial vehicle fleets have a choice – either assess the risk now and put monitoring and risk management procedures in place or wait to be penalised. “The new regulations should be the catalyst for light commercial vehicle fleets to put their fleet safety records in order. Van drivers are rushing around the country to meet tight delivery deadlines and, in many cases, an analysis of the distances travelled and the time allocated means the only way packages can be delivered on time is by drivers working long hours and speeding. “That is dangerous. If a driver is involved in an incident, whether or not the driver is employed by the organisation or is an external contractor, the company could be held liable for aiding and abetting any offences that take place. ”But, argues James Sutherland, managing director of driver training and risk management specialists Peak Performance, there are major factors that mitigate against van drivers receiving the same standard and level of training as their company car counterparts – high staff turnover, lost driving hours and cost.

Industry estimates suggest that up to 20% of van drivers move jobs annually, which means that a light commercial vehicle fleet could have a completely new complement of drivers every five years – a fact that persuades many managers to consider risk assessments and adequate training as uneconomic. And manpower issues inevitably mean that scarce resources are stretched to their limits and valuable driving hours lost when van drivers are required to attend risk assessments and driver training courses. Therefore, the view taken by many companies is: Why train van drivers if they are not going to remain on the fleet long enough for the investment to begin pay back?Needless to say, driver training and risk management suppliers argue against such short-sightedness and point to the Health and Safety Executive’s best practice guidelines “Driving at Work: Managing Work-related Road Safety”, which unequivocally says companies have a duty of care responsibility to all at-work drivers. “Turning a blind eye to the need for assessing the risk of drivers and implementing appropriate interventions is simply no longer an option,” says Mr Sutherland. “There can be no closer definition of at-work drivers than van driver, and they are the ones most likely to benefit from risk assessment and driving risk awareness training, yet they are also the ones most likely to be overlooked in any form of corporate driving review. ”

Van drivers are most likely to be overlooked in any form of corporate driving review

"Fleets must develop a culture within the organisation of caring for staff"

However, by completing both fleet and driver risk assessments solutions can be put into place that provide enormous paybacks in terms of reducing accident levels and repair costs, easing driver stress and boosting their esteem, improving journey planning and driving conditions, reducing driver turnover and ultimately cutting insurance premiums DriveTech says that as many light commercial vehicle drivers are in low salaried/high turnover jobs when compared to company car drivers, their driving ability should be assessed at job interview stage. Steve Johnson, marketing director of Drive & Survive, says that, although today’s vans are very car-like in terms of comfort factors – a comfortable seat, good heating and ventilation, a decent RDS radio giving traffic information, informative instruments, light, accurate and responsive primary controls and other equipment – the vehicle plays only a relatively minor role in the safe van driving scenario. As most vans can be driven legally on a car licence, the majority of drivers, particularly owner drivers or agency drivers, are unlikely to have had any form of additional training, says Mr Johnson, adding: “They are simply thrown the keys and told to get on with it. But driving a van is not the same as driving a car. “There are blind spots, calling for a totally different strategy at road junctions, and possible compromising of the van’s dynamic attributes by ill-balanced or excessive loads. Manoeuvring, even at low speed, with a panel van requires not only concentration and caution, but specific experience. Those who have either not had appropriate training or the opportunity to practice away from the public roads are likely to find out the hard way that misjudgement can be an expensive mistake to make.

“The only way to get to the bottom of this problem is effective risk assessment. But this must be far more than a cursory hazard perception test. Any decent risk assessment will involve an element of psychometric testing, allied to an analysis of the driving environment the driver is exposed to on a regular basis and their level of knowledge of all matters driving-related. Only then can a company start to build up a picture of the driver’s likely response in a risk situation. ” Mr Kirkwood says: “Drivers should undergo either a practical assessment or a CD ROM risk assessment. Fleets must develop a culture within the organisation of caring for staff and if that is undertaken at interview stage it is likely that the new recruit will take a more responsible attitude towards driving and caring for the vehicle. Compulsory driver training should be considered for employees with accident records, but only once they have shown loyalty to the company. “A failure to care for light commercial vehicle drivers and all employees who drive on business is indicative of a non-caring company attitude. ”


Lex initiatives help customers keep on top of safety
Lex Vehicle Leasing, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of vans on contract hire, launched three initiatives earlier this year to help light commercial fleets comply with duty of care legislation.These are: a servicing and maintenance service for van ancillary equipment; a 120-point van inspection service to ensure vehicles are safe and roadworthy and problems that have cropped up between ever-increasing vehicle service intervals are fixed, and a strategy of fitting safety wheel trims to all new vans.Their launch followed a six-month review with customers on how Lex Vehicle Leasing could help address the growing number of safety issues facing van fleet operators.Van product manager Ian Yates says: “Vans often get driven by a number of different people each week, work 24 hours a day and in some very demanding conditions, so it’s tough for employers to ensure vehicles are working safely at all times. “These three initiatives combined help overcome some of these vehicle condition issues and help ensure companies meet their duty of care responsibilities at all times.”

Taking care of agency drivers
Companies that employ agency drivers to make deliveries by van can increase the risk profile of their fleet by up to 400%.Research by driving-at-work risk management, driver assessment and driver training solutions provider DriveTech (UK) reveals that agency drivers will typically be involved in three or four times as many accidents as employees. The data also suggests that agency drivers tend to be involved in more expensive accidents than employees.DriveTech (UK) chairman Chris Howell says: “A fleet with 5% of its vehicles driven by agency staff could expect these drivers to be accounting for 15-20% of all incidents. “Those incidents tend to be more expensive by a factor of 25%.

“Health and safety law affords protection to all those engaged in work activities”

“It would not be unreasonable to expect the supplying agency to ensure that drivers have a basic level of competency”