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Car risk management 'lower priority' than vans

Date: 30 August 2018   |   Author: Sean Keywood

A wide range of fleets consider the risk management of cars to be a much lower priority than vans, software and management company FleetCheck has warned.

According to the firm's managing director Peter Golding, vans tend to be viewed by managers more as roughly treated working tools, while cars are seen as personal transport to be cared for by drivers.

Golding warned that fleets were gravely mistaken in this thinking. He also said this was a particular problem among SMEs.

"Managers view vans as purely working vehicles and, for that reason, automatically apply health and safety thinking to them, realising that their safety is a corporate liability.

"However, they perceive cars much more as personal transportation and simply do not place them in the same mental space. It is almost as though they think that the responsibility for safety lies with the driver. 

"Clearly, that thinking is wrong. All fleet safety responsibility is the same, regardless of vehicle type."

Golding said he was often asked detailed legal questions about the risk management of LCVs - without operators realising the same legislation applied to cars.

"Time and again, we'll be asked, for example, about legal responsibilities when it comes to servicing and maintenance of LCVs," he said.

"We'll explain the situation and then say, 'You do know that the same applies to your cars?' and often receive a blank look in return.

"For this reason, we feel confident in saying that, across a wide range of fleets, but especially in the SME area, cars are often being given much lower risk management priority." 

According to Golding, part of the explanation for this oversight is how fleets often fund cars and vans in different ways.

He said: "It remains quite common to come across fleets where vans are outright purchased and cars are leased with maintenance.

"There is a frequent misconception that, in this situation, the responsibility for maintaining the vehicle is passed over to the leasing company. Of course, this simply isn't true - it remains with the employer."

Golding added that all companies working in the fleet industry had a responsibility to make sure firms were fully educated about risk management. 

He said: "My view is that this is the most important thing that we do as an industry and as expert advisers to fleets. 

"Everyone who works in the sector knows that, correctly applied, risk management saves not just money but lives.

"Communicating to fleet operators what they need to do to make all of their drivers safer is the first thing that FleetCheck does when we enter into dialogue with potential customers, whatever types of vehicle they operate."



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