Withering attack on ‘grey’ fleets
A withering attack on companies for failing to manage safety issues relating to employees who drive their own cars on business has been made in a report by business car specialists Arval...
Arval warns that employees using their own cars at work are a health and safety timebomb for employers
The ‘policing and management’ of staff who use their own cars on business – the so-called ‘grey’ fl eet – ‘does not, unfortunately, reach the high standards that many employers bring to their company car fleets’, says the report. As a result, Arval warns: “Employees using their own cars at work are a health and safety timebomb for employers, who are likely to be a prime target under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act due for implementation in April next year.” Called ‘The ‘Grey’ Fleet – The origins, risks and impact of noncompany car business driving in the UK’, the report highlights a catalogue of shortcomings by businesses, particularly those operating small and medium-sized fleets.
Maintained
With vehicles potentially poorly maintained and incorrectly insured raising fears for driver safety, Jenny Powley, Arval’s director of corporate groups, said: “Relying on employees to keep their vehicles properly maintained and with the correct documentation leaves a company severely exposed to legal action through negligence and failing to meet duty of care obligations.”
Initially suggesting that some management failures maybe the result of responsibilities being either ‘overlooked’ or ‘misunderstood’, the report, concludes: “Many [companies] have wrongly assumed that all responsibility passes to the employee once that employee has opted out [of a company car] or is using their own vehicle for business journeys.
“Others have almost certainly chosen to use the cash option as an opportunity to wash their hands of the aggravation of running a car fleet.”
Effectively, following a survey of more than 400 fleet managers and other managers with fleet responsibilities, it appears that the growth of the ‘grey’ fleet in the last decade has ‘undermined safe business driving’.
The report reveals that only 8% of employers recognise that the ‘grey’ fleet leaves them highly exposed to duty of care risk, while 45% regard their exposure as being minimal and 15% as having no exposure at all.
Small fleets, says the report, were least able to recognise their risk exposure.
Although the report does not apportion any blame for safe management of ‘grey’ fleet drivers – many of whom have taken a cash-based alternative to the traditional company car – it does highlight a number of anonymous comments from fl eet managers which ‘read like cries for help’.
As a result, says the report: “It is clear that employers need to take ‘grey’ fleet issues more seriously, from an employee health and safety standpoint. This cannot be done by isolating duty of care within the fleet management function. It requires a long-term strategy and commitment of time from the highest levels of an organisation.”
Acknowledge
"The ‘policing and management’ of staff who use their own cars on business – the so-called ‘grey’ fleet – does not, unfortunately, reach the high standards that many employers bring to their company car fleets"
Despite those comments, the report does acknowledge that some companies have realised that their legal responsibilities remain unchanged if a vehicle is driven on business irrespective of who owns the car.
The report adds: “Many employers are beginning to realise the extent of the ‘grey’ fleet problem and are formulating policies to deal with it.
“The self-regulating approach is infi nitely more preferable than waiting to be forced to take action by Government intervention.
With increasing legislation and enforcement priority only the most indifferent could fail to see that the regulatory net is continuing to tighten.”
And, an anonymous police comment in the report warns: “The real point about duty of care is not that company directors could be locked up, but those with direct responsibility, namely the fleet manager, will find themselves caught up in the criminal justice system, whose wheels can be notoriously slow to turn. Anybody caught in the duty of care net will, in all likelihood, be suspended from duty and unable to find another job until the case has been concluded. This could take up to five years.”
It is abundantly clear from the report that just as SMEs have, in the main, neglected to put in place company car risk management procedures so they are also lacking in measures to combat the on-road risks associated with ‘grey’ fleet drivers.
Failures to check MoT and insurance documentation, vehicle suitability and to offer driver training or risk assessment were among the small company weaknesses highlighted in the report.
Commenting
on the report Rob Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: “The many actions and initiatives put in place by employers to improve the safety performance of their company car drivers are in grave danger of being undone by ‘grey’ fleet drivers who are not managed, policed or monitored to the same degree. Far too many employers have abrogated responsibility for those using their own vehicles at work.”
‘Grey’ fleet fact file
About one million non-company owned vehicles are driven on company business...
37% of companies say 10% of their business mileage is clocked up by ‘grey’ fleet vehicles; 13% said it was greater than 26%
Insurance is the biggest issue of concern with own vehicle driving, according to 32% of employers; 23% said it was vehicle roadworthiness, maintenance and reliability
53% of companies do not check if ‘grey’ fleet vehicles have business insurance
34% of companies do not check the licences of ‘grey’ fleet drivers - the first indication that the ‘grey’ fl eet is not subject to the same rigorous procedures that apply to company cars
75% of companies do not check if ‘grey’ fl eet vehicles over three years old have a valid MoT certifi cate, with firms operating fewer than 50 vehicles most at fault
More than 83% of companies do not check if vehicles are regularly maintained
Less than half of companies have a formal accident reporting procedure
73% of employers place no restriction on the age of noncompany cars with only 8% insisting on a vehicle under three years old
Only 20% of employers check whether a ‘grey’ fleet vehicle is ‘fit for purpose’ if driven by a high mileage driver
Euro NCAP ratings are rarely used by companies to asses vehicle safety - only 12% of employers use the rating to restrict company cars and a mere 2% of ‘grey’ fleet drivers
Only 31% of big fl eet opt-out drivers are risk assessed or receive driver training and only 21% of own vehicle drivers
Almost 80% of employers include ‘grey’ fleet drivers in driving- related communications
Source: ‘The ‘Grey’ Fleet – The origins, risks and impact of noncompany car business driving in the UK’Vehicle design criticised
Vehicle design is contributing to road crashes by making drivers less aware of what is happening around them and more isolated through reduced vehicle feedback, according to research from Brunel University...
Poor awareness of what is happening around people whilst they are driving has been proven to be a bigger contributor to accidents than speeding or driving technique.
Dr Guy Walker of the University’s Driving Research Laboratory at the School of Engineering, said: “Our research demonstrates the need for car designers to balance technology advances with user-centric design, to ensure drivers have appropriate levels of vehicle feedback and unimpaired situational awareness.
“Cars provide timely ‘informal chatter’ such as engine noise and road noise, which keeps us attentive and informed of our situation on the road. If this feedback is removed through car design innovations, the whole nature of driving could change completely, potentially putting lives at risk.
Europeans fall behind on duty of care
European countries are falling behind the UK when it comes to fleet duty of care, according to fleet software company cfc solutions...
Some European countries are falling behind in duty of care issues
The organisation says that UK Government moves over the last few years mean that risk management has been given a high priority that is not being mirrored on the continent.
Business leader Andy Leech explained: “We have fleet customers in almost every European country and it is clear to us that the UK has taken a definite lead in this area.
“Nowhere else is risk management being taken so seriously and integrated into the daily running of fleets.
In fact, in some European countries there is almost zero awareness of the issues involved and the management action that should be taken. It is difficult to think of another area of fleet management where there is such a wide disparity between countries. In the UK, risk management is one of the two or three most important issues facing fleets – elsewhere it is a phrase that is almost unknown.”
Mr Leech added that he did not expect the situation to change until governments in other European countries brought pressure to bear on fleets in a similar way to the UK. He suggested that the trend could cause issues on some pan-European fleets where directors of a company at a European level did not ‘buy in’ to UK duty of care.