As an employer, you have a responsibility to keep those impacted by your business activity safe. That means minimising the risk of harm to your employees, customers, and community.
A driver risk assessment is a great way to take preventative action that reduces accidents and also protects you from liability. This article outlines how you can minimise hazards with a driving at work risk assessment. Here’s how to get started:
What Is A Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment is an investigation of potential harm in your workplace.
UK law determines that the assessment be “suitable and sufficient”, meaning that you have done your best to minimise risk you could have reasonably predicted.
Chances are you already carry out informal driver risk assessments in the course of your daily work. Any time you identify possible threats and take preventative action, you are assessing risk.
For fleets, it is essential you have a relevant driver and vehicle checklist to go through!
Get Your Driver Risk Assessment Checklist:
Why Implement a Driving At Work Risk Assessment?
Driving comes with serious inherent dangers. If your company operates a fleet for long enough, you will likely experience an incident at one point. It’s not only the law, but it’s just good business practice.
You Are Legally Required To Document Significant Findings From Your Risk Assessment If Your Company Employs Five Or More People
What risks do you need to watch out for?
Risks on the Road
Everyone knows the risks of auto accidents: but many are preventable. Poor weather, driver drowsiness, and mobile phone use behind the wheel all increase the likelihood of accidents.
But it’s not just accidents: vehicle breakdown, theft, and vehicle misuse are other risks businesses with fleets face.
As an employer, you are on the hook for most of these risks, including:
- Claims of negligence
- Accident liability
- Costly fines
- Damage to company reputation
- Vehicle repairs and replacement
- Poor staff retention and morale
A Driving At Work Risk Assessment Allows You To Identify Potential Threats And Resolve Them Prior To An Incident Occurring
Implementing a Driver Risk Assessment For Your Business
Your risk assessment procedure can be quite straightforward. By following a checklist and regular schedule (biannually is a good starting point), your driver risk assessment procedure can be a seamless part of managing your fleet.
Follow these steps to implement your own driving at work risk assessment:
- Look at your fleet’s workflow and identify your risk factors. Don’t forget to document each step!
- Determine the preventative actions needed to reduce each risk
- Set a deadline to follow up on your risk assessment and ensure each risk was sufficiently addressed
Review Your Driving At Work Risk Assessment Annually And Update It To Include Any New Hazards That May Have Arisen
Mitigate Risks with Fleet Telematics
The end goal of a driver risk assessment is to reduce workplace accidents, so don’t forget one of the primary ways to keep your fleet safe: fleet telematics.
GPS trackers mitigate risk in the following ways:
1. Driver tracking: incentivise your drivers to make safer driving choices, locate them in case of a vehicle breakdown, and reduce inappropriate vehicle use.
2. Theft protection: Get notifications if a vehicle leaves your car park or is driven out of hours, and give the live location to police.
3. Reduce accident risks: With fleet telematics you can ensure your staff drive responsibly. Plus, you can better track driver hours and adhere to HGV guidelines, reducing instances of fatigue-related accidents.
4. Stay on top of deadlines: Receive automatic reminders of your annual MOT tests and driving licence checks.
Risk Management & Digitisation
By taking steps up front to mitigate risk, you are doing your part to create a safe workplace and protect your business. Paired with fleet telematics, a driving at work risk assessment gives you the tools you need to lower incidents of accidents, theft, vehicle misuse, and so much more.
If you’re serious about reducing risks, not to mention saving your business money and time, it’s time to invest in fleet telematics software. Contact Vimcar’s customer sales representatives today to learn how our software can level up your fleet.
