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Thousands of business drivers across Britain are being given a 'Permit to Drive' as recognition that their ability behind the wheel has been assessed and meets best practice standards.

While fleet management is a mature business in Britain, the Government and enforcing authorities focus on occupational road risk has created a whole new industry dedicated to managing drivers that requires director-level buy-in to be successful.

Geoffrey Bray, chairman of Chippenhambased Fleet Support Group, which manages a fleet of 45,000 vehicles, who believes he is one of the architects of the 'Permit to Drive' concept, said: "The driving licence is a document which is of little value other than on the day an individual passes their test.

"What we are looking for with 'Permit to Drive’ is a continuing appraisal of an at-work driver's approach, attitude and performance in general driving."

Today, says FSG, the £42 a year per driver 'Permit to Drive' programme, which since launch more than four years ago has evolved to become a fundamental part of the organisation's RiskMaster initiative, is calculated to save fleets an average £300 a year per car in reduced accident, insurance, fuel, and wear and tear costs.

Discussions have been held with the Government on the possibility of a 'Permit to Drive' scheme being rolled out nationally with Mr Bray saying: "I cannot see anything negative in a process that continually measures an individual's driving skill in relation to crashes, traffic offences, required documentation and vehicle maintenance.

"A 'Permit to Drive' will hopefully contribute to an individual not being killed or seriously injured; there are financial benefits; social responsibility is being demonstrated to other road users; and the process clearly provides an audit."

'No 'Permit to Drive' - no occupational driving’ is the message being sent out and FSG says it has 25 client companies operating the scheme with 6,000 employees licensed to drive. Additionally, it has about 100,000 applications in the pipeline following the January 2007 redesign of RiskMaster, which includes the launch of a dedicated website - www.mypermittodrive.com - for all RiskMaster transactions and the forming of a user-group with wide hands-on experience to ensure the programme keeps pace with legal developments.

Successful

Initially launched following a successful pilot more than four years ago with Barnes Group, of Corsham, Wiltshire, a nationwide supplier of engineering and maintenance consumables, the scheme also embraces partners, spouses and their children who are allowed to drive company-provided cars as well as employees who drive their own vehicle on company business. Within a year Barnes Group found that occupational road risk protection was producing a 'profit' that has been ongoing and includes a 40% insurance premium saving.

However, FSG, which last year became the first fleet management or leasing company to join the newly formed Fleet Safety Association, continues to detect a director-level reluctance to embrace driver management.

Mr Bray said: "At manager level there has been a significant attitude change and that is refreshing. But the challenge for these people is to convince those at the top of their organisations to take action."

He believes soon-to-be introduced corporate manslaughter legislation - the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill is currently going through Parliament - could provide a pivotal focus for companies.

"Organisations that have historically felt they could get off the hook because the prosecution could not fi nd a 'controlling mind' will have to change their attitude because the proposed legislation reverses that test," he said.

"Directors must be aware that while they may not go to jail, the prosecution aspect could be quite horrendous as evidence is gathered and court appearances made. Jail may not result but careers could be ruined and companies could be seriously damaged by unwanted publicity."

A 'Permit to Drive' - staff are given a credit-card size document - is pivotal within RiskMaster, with Mr Bray saying: "RiskMaster is an operating model that measures driver compliance with occupational road risk policies. This builds into a comprehensive Driver Operating Life Report from which data is used to continually assess individual drivers in their driving-at-work activity.

Comply

"Drivers who comply with both policy and procedure are allocated a 'Permit to Drive' on company business. Noncompliance by drivers with company health and safety directives could result in their 'Permit to Drive' being revoked.”

All drivers granted a 'Permit to Drive' by their employer through the FSG programme must reaffirm their document declaration quarterly and then reapply for approval annually.

RiskMaster, which was developed in partnership with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, is in essence a system of compliance. Online and automatically it continually tasks drivers and measures how they are performing. At its heart, a processing 'plant' supports client companies' legal obligations to manage workrelated road safety.

Typically a 'Permit to Drive' is granted following a DVLA licence check, and an online driving 'test' that is then used as the basis for any training as highlighted by the assessment profi ling drivers as 'low', 'medium' or 'high' risk.

Vehicle maintenance records, insurance details and any data on crashes and motoring offences are also fed in.

As information is supplied, it is analysed by the system that point scores a driver's data.

If points rise above a preset level, management is alerted. So a driver can qualify for a permit, or a temporary permit, or be denied. That analysis is a continual process so each driver has a 'Driver Operating Life Report' and each driver is simultaneously measured against their employer's own specific parameters, that are pre-fed into the system. RiskMaster, like other similar programmes, provides a continuous performance measurement covering maintenance, accidents, driving offences, administrative requirements and telematics - information gleaned from a 'black-box'-fitted vehicle recording driving speed, braking, journey time etc. All data is fed into the system via an automatic link. Mr Bray said: "The programme keeps the driver in the spotlight and measures performance in a number of critical areas."

In selling the concept to employees' relations communication was vital, explained Mr Bray. "Putting the emphasis on valuing the safety of staff and their relatives is key."

He concluded: "'Permit to Drive' is not a cost, it is an investment. Legislation is increasingly impacting on at-work drivers so employers have a responsibility to manage them."

Suppliers offer 'permit to drive' training

Risk management specialist DriveTech (UK) has introduced its first 'Permit to Drive' scheme at nationwide fast-fit company ATS Euromaster, and Inchcape Fleet Solutions, which operates more than 53,000 vehicles in the UK, has this year added the concept to its product portfolio.

At ATS, training is due to be completed this year and to-date around two-thirds of the company's 4,000 employees who drive while at work - including centre staff manoeuvring customers' vehicles - have had their driving skills individually assessed and, where necessary improved, under the organisation's 'Safe2Drive' scheme (RoadSafe: winter 2006/7).

DriveTech managing director Jim Kirkwood said: "A growing number of companies have a strong commitment to health and safety and a need to ensure that their employees have valid driving documentation, the correct entitlement for driving a particular category of vehicle, a risk 'profile' and details of any driver training.

"Historically, this information has either not been collected or it has been stored and kept in different, disparate systems. 'Permit to Drive' schemes act as an internal 'licence' for companies, giving a complete 'holistic' overview of an individual's profile and entitlements.

Useful

"These programmes are particularly useful where staff work remotely from head office as data and information may not always be easily obtainable and where risk is higher as employees drive a wide range of vehicles, such as at ATS."

Leasing and fleet management company Inchcape Fleet Solutions' 'Permit to Drive' scheme, while aimed at all employees who drive on business, is being particularly targeted at potential new staff and can be completed during the recruitment process.

Using its well-established in-house duty of care products as a basis, developed in association with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Inchcape Fleet Solutions says a manager's report is compiled and sent to customers within 24-hours along with a 'Permit to Drive' if driving standards laid down by the company are met.

Managing director Terry Bartlett said: "How an individual drives often reflects how they function in the corporate world.

"The risk profiling gives customers knowledge as to whether an existing member of staff requires training to reduce their crash risk. But, we believe, our new initiative is an important tool as part of a company's recruitment process and complements our existing in-house driver licence validation service."

Case Study: West Bromwich Building Society

The programme automatically alerted the Society's operational risk manager, David Dilkes, who suspended both employees' 'Permits to Drive' "until adequate insurance was in place". That meant until the occupational road risk protection programme had accepted new insurance certifi cates.

During the week it took to resolve the matter both men were banned from driving on Society business.

Mr Dilkes said: "Also they were warned of having risked disciplinary action by breaching the Society's vehicle policy and exposing it to possible prosecution.”

RiskMaster is the same for company car and opt-out drivers. An employer adopting the programme automatically issues annual -Permits to Drive. West Bromwich Building Society introduced it early in 2006 -because it monitors drivers and their vehicles and keeps on monitoring with an audit trail that police or Health and Safety Executive can follow, as necessary, to see precisely what safety precaution was taken when and why," says Mr Dilkes.

The Society has in the programme 50 staff with company cars and 35 running private cars on an 'opt-out' work mileage basis.

Mr Dilkes said: "The objective is for risk management to be cost effective and RiskMaster achieves that. It is fully online so that at any time I, and drivers, can check anything we wish, in addition to it alerting me of any problem.

"All occupational road risk prevention requirements are met in monitoring employee drivers and their commitments in vehicles in business use. It keeps a check on employee fi tness to drive, licence status, insurance, VED, MoT, and maintenance.

"The programme is transparent and it covers all legally relevant details. It meets a regulatory requirement as cost effectively as possible doing a lot of work for me. Other systems are more expensive and nowhere near as comprehensive."

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