The UK fleet division of global engineering and construction company Balfour Beatty is to begin testing its high-risk drivers on a new state-of-the-art driving simulator to assess their risk levels.

The £200,000 simulator, situated at the Derby base of Balfour Beatty Plant and Fleet Services, has just gone live after a five-month testing process.

It uses a real Vauxhall Astra hatchback mounted in front of a 180 degree wrap-around screen to create a real-life driving experience – including a working hands-free telephone.

All 14,000-plus company drivers will have to undergo an online driver risk assessment, with those classified as being a high risk then having to undertake a session on the simulator.

Michael Brown, director – fleet services, said: “Every one of our company vehicle drivers will have to go through a driving risk assessment. And all new starters will have to undergo the test too – if they don’t there will be no contract of employment offered.

“It is no longer good enough to simply identify the high risk drivers. You have to do something to tackle this, hence we have developed the simulator. There is a moral and social obligation for a company to make sure its staff are safe behind the wheel.”

The simulator, which has been developed in-house, can be programmed with a variety of driving situations so employees’ responses can be noted and analysed.

This can include a vehicle tailgating the driver (the wing mirrors and rear-view mirror are all digital screens which project the rear view) and, more shockingly, an accident where a driver runs someone over.

According to Brown, the graphic nature of running someone over, and seeing the body hit the bonnet, is shocking.

It can train between four and six drivers in any one session, all of which will have been identified as being high risk through the risk assessment.

Balfour Beatty has recently announced details of its worldwide plan to reduce accident levels among its staff.

Zero Harm 2012 is a pledge from the company that by the year 2012 its will have zero fatalities and no injuries to members of the public, no ‘catastrophic failures’ and zero fatalities and permanently disabling injuries to members of its workforce or sub-contractors’ workforce.

Brown, who revealed details of the simulator at the Fleet News Managing Risk in Fleet Conference sponsored by Zurich, added: “This basically means our drivers will not hurt the public. This is a big challenge but we are now working towards this in fleet.”

One of the company’s fleet initiatives is the launch of a driver gift bag, containing a blanket, umbrella, accident pack and torch. It will also contain the driver handbook, which is not often read by staff.

Brown estimates that in 70% of cases, a vehicle is returned with the handbook unopened. He said: “Hopefully when the driver gets the goodies out he or she will also look at the handbook.”

The company will also now only offer vehicles which have scored the maximum five stars in the EuroNCAP crash tests (this currently applies to 75% of the fleet), and from now on will order every new vehicle with rear parking sensors to cut back on reversing incidents which last year cost the company £356,000.