workplace driving

I agree with you dawn about companies attitudes towards driving at work. I too as a fleet driver trainer am fighting the same battle as you. The only solution is to have ONE assessment process not hundreds run by hundreds of differert companies. with a nationally recognised qualification if the driver is good enough. With the buses and lorries there is a CPC process now to adhere to. One company has just brought out a CPC for category B drivers which if they can get recognised could be the solution. check out www.lac-consortium.com Well worth looking if only out of interest.

So in essence we ONE assessment delivered only by qualified Trainers and all to a high standard with a nationally recognised qualification at the end. Until that happens i can't see the average company is going to have enough trust in the process to participate. I would be interested to here others thoughts.

I agree with you all that we have a major problem with driving in this country and the workplace, however until the government make either assessments or driving tuition mandatory this will probably continue. As a director of a fleet driving organisation we find companies are initially reluctant to listen but do seem generally to be starting to take notice. From our angle of things it would be good to actually hear from companies of their point of view what they actually want out of a course and how they would like to learn more about this subject.

I always find it strange how such volatile machinery can be operated within a public domain by people that may have been trained decades ago.

I cannot think of any workplace where this type of machinery with its terrible record of destruction would be allowed to continue as it is.

To answer the question "how do I feel about workplace" driving I would say that my personal opinion is that the standard of driving in this country is disgraceful, and that I wish there were more prosecutions of companies whose drivers caused accidents etc.

The point about fuel savings is a good one, too. http://www.roadar.org.uk/drivers/index.htm may assist.

Dawn doing a driver assessment is very important. With the new CM law you should at least have in place a "work-related driving H&S policy". Don't just tag on a paragraph at the end of your main policy.

Online assessments are used mainly by companies with many drivers over several locations to highlight any HIGH risks. They are just the beginning though. If you find out your drivers are high or medium risk, what then? You can't just ignore it.

Using an IAM assessor is going about half-way. These guys are generally volunteers mainly Ex-police drivers. Ask yourself do you want your drivers to be safer, maybe use techniques that will save you money through fuel, maintainence and eventually insurance premiums or do you want them to chase criminals.

If you must go down the route of online assessments at least follow them up with professional driver trainers.

Ask your solicitors if an online assessment would stand up in court as a defence if someone was involved in a fatal accident? If not you have your answer.

Very gray area especially if the employee is using their own car. It's a real minefield, take professional advice.

Our company has introduced an online assessment. This is loosley based around the new thoery test. The reslut will put you into low, medium or high risk driver. Anyone falling into the high risk category will have to undergo a manual assessment with the IAM trained assessor.

I must stress that the online assessment is optional. There has been great opposition to this as a lot of people have a legal right to drive and therefore feel aggreived at having to be constantly assessed.

When I first started with the company I was taken for a 30 min driving assessment before I was aloud to drive a company vehicle. It is best paractise to give all new starters a driving assessment. It is difficult to have existing emplyees to undertake assessments.

How do you feel about workplace driving?

Should practical driving assessments for employees and tuition of vehicle maintenance be obligatory?
For many of us it has been years since we passed a driving test, yet companies are often prepared to hand over keys to a new vehicle without any kind of assessment.