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A Covid-19 guide for fleets, based on government advice, has been published by leasing company Arval.
The document, entitled 'Covid-19: A two-step guide to vehicle safety principles', is said to assemble the key elements for fleets from the government's 'Working safely during Covid-19' guide.
According to Arval's guide, available from the 'Insights' section of the company's website, the first step fleets should take is to carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment, showing how they will reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practical level.
This can include considering if each business activity is essential, using screens or barriers to separate people from each other, switching from face-to-face working to back-to-back or side-to-side working, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning, and reducing the number of people each person has contact with.
The second step Arval's guide recommends is to practice social distancing, adopting measures to ensure this is possible when arriving at and departing from work, while in work and when travelling between sites, and indeed in all parts of the business, not just in vehicles.
Arval UK head of consultancy Shaun Sadlier said: "The document delivered by the Government provides a strong basis for future fleet risk management of COVID-19 for businesses that operate company cars and vans. The content makes a lot of sense.
"However, it's a lengthy document and we've created an abridged version that includes all of the relevant principles and ideas, but in a format that is faster and easier for fleet decision makers to use on a day-to-day basis.
"The fact is that some industries are going through the process of returning to work very quickly and we are keen to provide ways of making this as easy - and safe - as possible for our customers. The new guide very much fits in with that thinking."
According to Sadlier, Arval was in ongoing discussion with fleets of all different sizes and types about how they should manage risks related to Covid-19 during the lockdown period.
He said: "In a matter of weeks, a consensus had started to emerge about what best practice would look like for the majority of fleets. We are pleased to see that these ideas largely agree with those being recommended by the government.
"Taking the official guidance and the ideas that have been developed by the industry itself, we now have a framework that can be used as a yardstick across the sector, which is obviously crucial as a widespread process of returning to work begins.
"Our consultancy team have been in dialogue with large numbers of fleets and helping them to make decisions that will protect their workers and their customers. Some issues are not easy to resolve but, almost uniformly, we have seen a people-first approach."
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