The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) has launched a new course to help organisations improve the safety of their fleet drivers.

RoSPA’s Driving Mentor and Assessor Programme was developed after working with energy firm SSE. The safety charity was tasked with helping to improve the standard of driving across the company’s fleet of 7,500 vehicles, which clocks up in excess of 40million miles each year.

The course, aimed at employees who are responsible for in-house driving assessments, provides attendees with the skills to assess and mentor drivers.

A five-day training programme, the Driving Mentor and Assessor Programme includes a range of scenarios and role play situations which will heighten the ability to identify, analyse, and provide written and verbal support to company drivers if in need of further development.

Driving mentors will be put through their paces in the RoSPA Occupational Road Test, with the examination forming part of the qualifying process, while group exercises and in-vehicle training sessions will also cover areas ranging from the Goals for Driver Education Matrix to company policy and procedures.

Colin Knight, RoSPA fleet safety audit manager, said: “The course will enable delegates to positively change driver behaviour within their organisation, by taking responsibility for assessing and feeding back to drivers and management on critical issues.

“They will gain an understanding of the human factors that contribute to the occupational road risks that drivers are exposed to every day. The mentoring part of this course is a real game changer, as qualifying mentors are equipped with the skills to work closely with drivers and managers to develop driver improvement programmes within their company. We are proud to have worked with SSE on bringing this course to market, and have already taken bookings from other big names such as Greggs.”

Mark Laker, SSE’s Project Drive programme manager, said: “Driving and managing road risk is one of the highest focus areas in SSE, a company dedicated to improving safety for its employees.”

On successful completion of the course, attendees will receive certification demonstrating that they have passed the RoSPA Occupational Advanced Driving Test and RoSPA’s Driver Assessing and Mentoring Tests.

The course is typically held at RoSPA’s Driver Training Academy in Kings Norton, Birmingham, but can also be operated from other venues, such as organisation’s head office.

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