THE Government is to launch the first-ever national survey of fleet safety standards in a bid to slash accidents among company car drivers. At Fleet Show 2000, the Health and Safety Executive revealed it was teaming up with local authorities to assess more than 300 fleets to gauge the standard of safety in each company.

Fleets will be visited by 'hit-squads' as part of a 14-month programme to create a radical new Occupational Highway Code to develop guidance and, ultimately, enforcement as part of the Government's Road Safety Strategy. Findings will be related to a Government task force which will be chaired by Richard Dykes, managing director of the Post Office, which has one of Britain's biggest fleets. His team will meet for the first time on May 8 and launch a public consultation later in the year to get fleet feedback on driver safety issues.

Peter Garland, policy adviser in the road safety policy directorate of the HSE, said: 'We will be benchmarking fleets so we can decide exactly what standards have been reached in terms of driver health and safety. There is no point setting guidelines in the Occupational Highway Code which are too high to be met by most fleets, so we will start with realistic targets. Although these will not be law, if a driver has an accident and a company has not met the standard set in the code or established approved safety procedures, then that could open the door to immediate prosecution.

David Percival, fleet manager for Morris Material Handling, said the same laws which cover heavy goods vehicles should be extended to company cars. People have got so used to driving long distances in their cars and vans that they need to be shaken out of it,' he told the Forum. 'The same laws which see lorry drivers' travelling time recorded should be applied to operators of smaller vehicles, including company cars.'