Big H&S Changes for Fleet Operators

Big H&S Changes for Fleet Operators

Fleet accident management has always been a specialised subset within general fleet management but that's no longer the case, there is now significant cross-over into the rapidly expanding Health & Safety sector. This has been brought about by the new H&S at Work Act. Company cars are clearly a 'place of work' and driving is obviously a 'hazard' so employers are now having to assess the risk based on their environment and vehicle use profile.

There are over 4.7million registered vehicles on New Zealand roads, roughly equal to our tiny population of humans. NZ roads aren't world class unfortunately and this may contribute to our high car accident rate. Last year there were over 200,000 injury related crashes and almost 300 fatalities. Given that 70% of new vehicles are bought by businesses, this makes driving the most dangerous work activity. Fleet operators have a lot to worry about.

MD of New Zealand's largest independent accident management provider Karen Knight said that unfortunately, many SME's running 10 or 20 vehicles do not even consider themselves a fleet operator. Ms Knight said "This is a fallacy, and regrettably it means that these companies may have no driver support services in place when breakdowns or accidents occur. The business owner's default position that 'the driver can call me' or 'the Police will come' is no longer acceptable". Robust 24/7 response is now required in order to support driver injury accidents and other emergencies.

Ms Knight said that her company Crash Management serve some of New Zealand's largest fleet operators and hundreds of SME's so those organisations now have all the driver support resources, protocols, and incident reporting required. However this is not always the case in the wider market, particularly in the SME sector. She said there is no excuse for the lack of awareness and uptake, as formal accident management and other driver support services are readily available in the market and cost effective. Crash Management for instance is priced at only a few dollars a month, and breakdown services start from as little as $25/year per vehicle.

Ms Knight said there are also a range of preventative measures available from Crash Management's business partners including fleet fit-for-purpose analysis, preventative maintenance software and phone apps, GPS & telematics, and automated driver licence checks and controls.

Crash Management are also able to provide template documentation to their clients and work with them to tailor a service solution and procedures to suit any requirements. Set up and implementation is also provided including Use of Vehicle Policy, driver injury rescue and repatriation plans, general service procedures and reporting, and driver packs for all vehicles.

The Health & Safety sector also acknowledges that both large organisations and SME's are lagging behind in regard to driver safety. It was also noted that SME owner/managers particularly are non-specialists in this area, potentially under-resourced and time-poor, and should welcome pragmatic cost-effective solutions. Safety Managers also agree that these businesses often completely under-estimate or even over-look the fact that these small fleets must comply with the intent of the H&S legislation to take all practical steps to protect drivers and provide the resources to support them. This will be particularly critical in injury accidents or other emergencies.

The potential penalties for non-compliance are sever. Large and small business fleet operators can protect themselves from this risk very cheaply – all for as little as a few dollars a month.

For more information visit http://crashmanagement.nz/corporate-government-fleets

ENDS

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