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If you've seen some of the practices that I have seen whilst visiting companies, you would think some of them don't value the Health & Safety of their employees at all. Yes, they pay lip service to safety, but if you scratch below the surface or look beyond the health and safety poster on the wall, there's often very little else being done. But you might argue that it's not entirely the companies' faults. Because without the threat of enforcement who can blame them for not taking it seriously.
Now, however, a Court has acted on the Corporate Manslaughter Act, finding Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings £385,000, which means we have seen a firm penalised.
So what will be the impact of this?
In the fleet sector, will fleet operators suddenly start to take driver safety seriously? Some may read the press and be concerned for a week or two then forget about it, whereas others will start to manage their risk more robustly.
And who should be most concerned? The small businesses with just a few vehicles or the major Plcs with thousands of drivers.
Some might say the larger businesses as their risk is surely bigger - however I feel it's the other way round. Major Plcs tend to have a dedicated fleet manager, they place greater importance on their fleet, they have partnerships with major fleet management and leasing providers, and they have the best lawyers to protect themselves too!
But for small to medium sized enterprises without a dedicated fleet manager, the job often falls with another manager or a director and their focus is elsewhere.
Yet sadly this is no excuse. You cannot stand up in Court and defend yourself by telling a judge that no-one was available to do the job which is why it didn't get done.
So if you are a manager or a director, who in the future could find yourself in court facing prosecution and a fine of between £500,000 and unlimited, don't blame the drivers for management failures.
Because with recent events, you at least now know the consequences of Corporate Manslaughter. And I would imagine the directors of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings wished they had taken health & safety more seriously.
You still have the opportunity to do so.
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