Fleet Safety Guide and Safer Vehicles Purchasing Policy

22 September 2022

Road crashes at work are an unfortunate and frequently tragic everyday occurrence. For businesses, driving for work purposes is the greatest risk faced by their employees. It has been estimated, for example, that in Australia, the EU and the USA, work-related motor vehicle crashes cause between a quarter and over a third of all work-related deaths. Hence why the UN General Assembly’s 2020 resolution ‘Improving Global Road Safety’ specifically calls for the adoption of policies “to decrease work-related road traffic crashes” and “to enforce international standards on safety and health at work, road safety and adequate road and vehicle conditions”.

More and more major vehicle fleets are now being systematically managed to avoid road crashes, motivated by a combination of duty of care for their employees, cost control, and corporate social responsibility. With fleet purchases accounting for the majority proportion of new vehicles sold, with up to 57-63% of newly registered vehicles belonging to a company, in some countries, purchasing safer vehicles can both protect a business’ employees as well as contribute to accelerating the safety of the global fleet. Recognising the role and importance of fleet safety, the Global Plan includes fleet safety management among its key vehicle safety recommendations.

To assist fleet managers in making safer vehicle purchasing decisions, Global NCAP has revised and further developed this important guide It provides recommendations on vehicle selection using NCAP ‘five star’ ratings and identifies the most important UN safety standards for passenger cars. Importantly, the guide also now includes recommendations for commercial vehicle categories and motorcycles.  The guide can be downloaded here.