Fleets review risk management policies after new HSE guidance

A renewed level of interest in risk management is being shown by fleets following the publication of revised Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance, reports GE Capital, Fleet Services.

An updated version of ‘Driving at Work: Managing Work Related Road Safety’ was made available in May, the first update of the guide since its original publication in 2003.

Gary Killeen, fleet services commercial leader for GE Capital UK, said that the issuing of the new document had prompted fleets to look again at ensuring that their risk policies were compliant.

“There are several reasons for fleet interest in risk management, but a strong desire to meet corporate legal responsibilities is the one that is most often mentioned to us by customers,” he explained.

“In this respect, the importance of revised HSE guidance cannot be underestimated. Alongside key pieces of legislation, it is likely to form the basis of any legal challenge to fleets if they fail to meet obligations to their employees and other road users.

“With many fleet risk management policies now dating back around a decade to the time of the original ‘Driving at Work’ publication, several fleets have contacted us with a view to using this moment to have a fresh look at their risk management arrangements.

“This, we believe, is timely. While the new HSE guide is based on very similar principles to the old document, the guidance being offered is, in many respects, more detailed and offers a higher level of information, taking into account lessons learnt in the last decade.”

GE recently updated its Safe Solutions product, which offers a range of risk management services including expert consultancy to build HSE-compliant policies on a per driver, per month, cost basis.

Killeen said: “Customer response to our revised Safe Solutions has been very strong and we believe that the issuing of the new HSE guidance – and subsequent interest in revising risk management policies - could lead to more customers choosing the ‘pay monthly’ option.”