Some of Britain’s safest fleets - including Arval, the Bethell Group, Centrica and Wolseley - will sign the European Road Safety Charter next week.

All four companies are committed to reducing the number of employees killed and injured when behind the wheel on business by becoming ‘business champions’ under the Department for Transport’s occupational road risk management programme, Driving for Better Business.

The aim of the programme is to raise awareness of the importance of work-related road safety in the business community and public sector by using advocates to promote the business benefits of managing it effectively.

3M will also be named next week as a business champion.
Adrian Walsh, director of Roadsafe, which runs the Driving for Better Business programme, said: “The business champions are at the forefront of our campaign to encourage other public and private sector organisations to implement occupational road risk management initiatives.

 

What the fleets have done

  • Fleet and fuel management provider, Arval, has put 650 of its UK employees and a number of its customers through its ‘Drive4Life’ road safety training programme.
  • Bethell Group, an independent construction, power and rail group running a 500-vehicle fleet, operates a ‘pain and gain’ ethos to encourage employees to maintain the high standards of road safety.
  • Centrica operates 15,500 vehicles in the UK and has a long-time record of crash reduction through a multi-faceted approach to improving road safety .
  • 3M runs a UK fleet of 809 vehicles and hit the headlines when it introduced a complete ban on mobile phone use by drivers.
  • Heating and plumbing products distributor Wolseley UK operates a 5,000-strong vehicle fleet and has recorded a decrease in incidents of 50% in the last fours.