If you regularly use vehicles within your business, perhaps to transport cargo or to deliver customer orders, safety needs to be of your top concern. An accident on the road could have devastating consequences, not only for your drivers and other any people involved but for your finances and your business reputation too.
To ensure a safer business fleet, the following is recommended.
Conduct regular safety inspections
You might take your personal vehicle in for a service once a year but when it comes to the vehicles you use in your business, you should do this more regularly. This isn’t to say you should book your trucks and vans into a garage every other week but you should familiarise yourself or members of your staff with the various parts of the vehicles your business uses. By checking such things as tyres, oil levels, and brake pads on a regular basis, you will know whether or not the assistance of a professional will be needed.
Insist your drivers take an advanced driving course
Not only will you be able to reduce your vehicle insurance costs if your drivers have taken an advanced driving course but you will make sure they are safer on the road too. Over time, we can all forget the lessons we learned when we first passed our tests so a few reminders for your drivers will be useful if they have slipped into bad habits on the roads.
Of course, you will need to make sure that your drivers are qualified to take your vehicles onto the road so make sure they have taken the necessary driving courses before they step into your HGVs or other business vehicles.
Make sure your cargo is secure
If you are transporting cargo, the last thing you want is for it to tip out onto the roads. For starters, this will be inconvenient to your drivers as they will need to find a way to load it again. But more importantly, it can also be a hazard to other road users.
So, make sure you have everything you need to keep your cargo secure, perhaps by using the tarp systems that are sold by companies such as Brumleve. And before your drivers head out onto the roads, have systems in place to check that everything is fully secure.
Appoint a fleet manager
A fleet manager deals with everything associated with a business fleet, including safety checks, vehicle maintenance, driver management, and more. Whether you hire somebody full or part-time, you will have somebody in place to ensure there are no lapses in safety measures. This is useful for you as you won’t have to rely on inexperienced employees or your own efforts when trying to ensure vehicle and driver safety.
Assess driver fitness
After training your drivers, you should still make sure they are fit to be on the roads. Check their driving licenses periodically to check for any driving convictions and consider drug and alcohol testing if you have any concerns about your drivers. Your drivers might grumble if you insist on these checks but for their safety and the safety of other road users, you might still consider them essential.
These are just a few of the ways to ensure a safer business fleet. Consider our suggestions for your business if you regularly send vehicles out onto the roads.
