QUALIFIED: Brake make safety plea
Road safety charity Brake have published a new report for fleet managers on maintaining safe vehicles.
Sponsored by Licence Bureau and published through Brake’s Fleet Safety Forum, the report contains results of a Brake survey of fleets’ management of vehicle safety.
It also gives guidance on how fleet managers can ensure vehicles are safely maintained.
Brake’s survey found outsourcing of vehicle servicing and repair is widespread: 63% of managers surveyed outsourced all their vehicle servicing and repair.
However, just 52% of companies using outsourced maintenance ensured mechanics’ qualifications were checked and verified, and only 23% ensured regular training was provided.
Vehicle defects contributed to 2,125 crashes in Great Britain in 2011, 52 of them causing deaths.
Laura Woods, Research and Information Officer at Brake, said: “Fleet managers have a duty to ensure their vehicles are safe, well-maintained and roadworthy, and that the mechanics working on their vehicles are fully qualified and their skills are kept up to date.
“This report has highlighted worrying gaps in some fleets’ management of vehicle risks.
“Brake urges fleet managers to make use of the advice in this report, and other resources available through the Fleet Safety Forum, to ensure they are not putting their drivers and other road users at risk by allowing dangerous vehicles on the roads.”
The report is available for free to Fleet Safety Forum subscribers, or can be purchased for £5 by non-subscribers.
