FIVE companies have been recognised with prestigious awards for their industry-leading efforts to improve fleet safety.

Gold awards for managing occupational road risk were handed out by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to Esso Petroleum, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Permabond and Palmer & Harvey McLane. A silver award went to npower Yorkshire Metering Services.

The companies provided evidence of a road risk management policy, staff organisation, standard setting, monitoring and measuring performance (including accident records) and review and audit procedures.

They also demonstrated consistently good or continuously improved road risk management over a given period and showed a reduction in accidents.

The awards were presented by Lord Brougham and Vaux, RoSPA vice-president, at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel, last Thursday.

Kevin Birch, RoSPA head of road and fleet solutions, said: 'These companies must be congratulated on the high quality of their presentations, which showed how seriously they take this issue.

'We hope to see many more businesses and organisations following their lead. As well as reducing the pain and misery caused by road accidents, they have seen the economic benefits of managing occupational road risk and have saved money.

'It is widely accepted that fleet managers have a key role to play in reducing deaths and injuries on Britain's roads.'

RoSPA is a long-term campaigner on fleet safety and recently launched a safety programme calling on employers to sign up to a series of ground-breaking codes. These included restricting drivers to a daily business trip limit of 350 miles if they were also going to be working during the day.

However, the initiative has split opinion in the fleet industry, with some decision-makers claiming it is unworkable, while others say it offers a vital contribution to improving fleet driver safety.