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Lack of Common Sense Costing Fleet Industry Dear

A leading road safety figure has spoken out about what he calls ‘the farcical health and safety culture’ which, if allowed to continue, will have an increasingly detrimental effect on businesses operating fleets of vehicles.

Graham Hurdle, managing director of E-Training World, the online driver risk assessment and e-driver training specialist, believes it is high time more business leaders spoke out in favour of common sense when it comes to health and safety related issues, as we head towards an increasingly litigious and mollycoddled society which will cost fleet operators dear.

“As a business which specialises in helping fleet operators improve their risk management, I hear the concerns of many company directors worried by the ever-rising threat of potential prosecution” said Hurdle.

“In nearly all cases, these are reputable businesses that would never knowingly put any of their employees or other road users at risk. They also feel, like I do, that the law is weighing too heavily in favour of employees with very little protection for employers.

“When you consider a non-company car driver”, explained Hurdle, “you are looking at someone with their own car, using it for their own private journeys. It is their responsibility to insure their vehicle adequately, it is their responsibility to make sure the vehicle is roadworthy, that it is taxed correctly, that they have had eyesight tests, that their driving licence is valid, and to ensure they do not drink and drive, use their mobile phone etc. If they do not do these things, they know that if they cause an accident or are pulled over by the police they only have themselves to blame and that they will be personally accountable.

“However, the moment they are on company business responsibility shifts to the employer and we’ve reached that ridiculous stage whereby businesses are having to document the obvious, such as ‘don’t drink and drive on company business’ and ‘make sure you are sitting with your seat adjusted correctly’, in fear of repercussions if a driver has an accident whilst at work or makes a claim.

“Many will agree that this is not fuelled by a genuine desire to improve safety at work. What is fuelling this requirement is the safety compliance market which is one of the fastest growing in the UK”, continued Hurdle. “As a result of its growing economic importance the purpose of health and safety now has extremely strong financial implications and I believe this is quickly outweighing its actual purpose of creating a safer world for us all to live and work in.

“The best example is the UK’s rising compensation culture, fuelled by the no win no fee legal firms who encourage employees to take action against their employers. This creates the vicious circle of companies having no option but to turn to the health and safety experts for more and more protection which has nothing to do with common sense safety at all and is mainly driven by money and the threat of prosecution.

“Enjoying the tax income is the Government which benefits from this increasingly important sector of the UK economy, from a revenue perspective, and has little incentive to encourage more rational behaviour”.

“It’s high time that the fleet sector campaigned for a more sensible approach to road safety which ensures that safe working practices are a requirement but whereby common sense prevails. Helping companies deliver improved safety and achieve legal compliance in a practical, cost-effective way is extremely important to E-Training World and adopting a grounded, business-like approach as well as improving safety is something that I personally feel extremely passionate about.

“Because if we allow the health and safety sector to continue as it is, I can see many fleet operators quickly reaching a stage whereby they simply allocate budget for the avoidance of prosecution, rather than spending pro-actively on meaningful and essential safety initiatives, which completely defeats the object of what we are all trying to achieve”.

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