How To Avoid A Disjointed Fleet Risk Program

Friday, May 20, 2016 - 12:57
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Similarly, you may ask; Why is a joined up risk program so important or; What business risks am I running if my fleet risk program is in fact, disjointed?

So, the simple answer is that a joined-up risk program gives a fleet the best chance to protect drivers, the brand and the public.  Additionally, the fleet will operate more effectively and fleet-associated costs (such a fuel and fleet insurance premiums) will be reduced.

However, if you store fleet risk data in separate files, in different departments, in varying formats, then it’s more likely poor decision-making will follow, which will then potentially scupper any chance of benefitting from what it tells you.

Now, poor risk management decision-making can also be caused by a lack of fleet risk expertise, bad timing and inaccuracies but in truth, many bad decisions (about who constitutes the risk, why and what to do about it) often stem from a lack of joined-up thinking between different departments such as HR, Transport and Health and Safety.

For example, in practical terms it would probably be unwise to invest in driver training based purely on one set of risk results such as those from licence checking.  This can easily happen because driver training may be a Health & Safety decision whereas licence checking may done by the HR department.

Similarly, if you don’t use Telematics you may wish to do Online Driver Assessments before choosing individual drivers for remedial action. These two functions may also be controlled by two separate departments.

In a similar vein, it is relevant to ask why don’t more fleets look at claim causation factors more closely before spending hundreds of pounds on training drivers and how many fleets actually ask drivers about why they think the incident occurred before spending money on training?  Same issue again.

Generally speaking and from our research, it seems that the Fleet department still points the way when it comes to how much and what kind of risk initiatives a fleet should invest in.

Whilst several departments may have interests and influences on the tactics for driver assessment and training decisions, the objective must be to centralise the collation of all relevant data, to test it against maximum risk thresholds set by the business and to implement timely and appropriate remedial action.  Failure to achieve this means wasted time and money for the fleet.

Of course, this whole subject involves specialist knowledge and as such it lends itself to an outsourced solution provided such a solution combines all relevant risk data and draws accurate conclusions. Due to the systems, suppliers and expertise a fleet would need, the cost of outsourcing fleet risk services can offer a saving to the fleet of around 70% compared to the cost of handling the function internally.

RVM Assist is based in Leeds, West Yorkshire and is one of the UK’s longest standing full service providers of consolidated risk and accident management services to the fleet industry.

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