Fleet footed
With the price of motoring and running a fleet going up, and many businesses looking to cut costs, Vehicles For Business, the ECA’s Affinity Partner for fleet management services, explains a few points that could help you with health and safety requirements – and the taxation benefits of leasing rather than buying that next van
Is your health and safety knowledge up to scratch? Did you know that around 30 per cent of all road traffic accidents involve someone who is at work at the time? Around 3,500 people are killed on our roads every year, and 40,000 are seriously injured. Health and safety law requires employers to ensure, as far as practical, the health, safety and welfare of all employees at all times – and this extends to the time spent by an employee on company business in any vehicle. An employer can’t be totally responsible for how a vehicle is driven, but can certainly influence what the driver does and how it’s done. Unrealistic delivery schedules or appointment targets, inadequate training and poor maintenance of
60 ECA Today March 2011
vehicles, all increase the risk of road accidents. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide
Act 2007 (CMCHA 2007) states: ‘Failure by senior managers to manage health and safety adequately, including through inappropriate delegation of health and safety matters, will leave organisations vulnerable to corporate manslaughter charges.’ So what can you do ensure you meet obligations as
an employer? Aside from wrapping your fleet and staff in bubble wrap, there are a few easy steps you can undertake to assess your current health and safety procedure and implement any changes necessary. First, assess current health and safety procedures, look at practices and assess whether they include work-related road safety and is this addressed in areas such as: policy; responsibility; organisation; structure; systems; and monitoring. Then understand the risk by completing a risk assessment; only when these processes have been identified, analysed and understood are you in a position to decide on appropriate interventions and hierarchy of control measures required. Remember you need to ask but two questions to determine the measures that need to be implemented: n 1. If the risk can’t be eliminated, can it be substituted by something with a lower risk? and
n 2. If it can’t be eliminated or substituted, can it be reduced?
SHUTTERSTOCK
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