Maximum benefits....minimum risks 

Why Organisations Need to Manage Risk

Driving is a high-risk activity. At least a third of all deaths on the road involve a vehicle being used for work purposes.

Reducing the number of work-related driving incidents is seen as a major issue by health and safety and transportation authorities and agencies.

Employers are not just obliged to comply with transportation compliance requirements they must also comply with health and safety legislation that applies to all work-related activities including driving.

Undertaking work-related road risk assessments and implementing the appropriate interventions which actively reduces the risks faced by individual drivers demonstrates a commitment to not only the safety and well-being of your employees, but, also compliance with global best practice.

An effective fleet risk management strategy will also lead to reduced business costs and the demonstration of corporate social responsibility.

DriverCare works responsibly with it’s clients to reduce accident frequency and manage resultant costs.

DriverCare is a professional Accident Manager resulting in the process of Risk Management being an essential component of our service. Risk Management is seen as the collection and analysis of data, the identification of risk and the suggestion and implementation of strategies to minimise or reduce the identified risk.

DriverCare will conduct a structured Risk Assessment of your fleet to identify any areas of risk and will recommend relevant strategies for your consideration to address risk with the hopeful outcome of elimination or reduction of the risk.

The DriverCare online reporting gives our clients immediate access to data for ongoing Risk Management purposes. Comprehensive annual Risk Reviews are undertaken by DriverCare for all Clients that utilise the Carefleet service.

Recognising the Risk.

Driving is the highest risk activity that any organisation will ever ask their employees to undertake. It exposes them to much greater risks than anything that would be tolerated in a factory or office environment. There is an increasing amount of legislation created by government and backed by the workers Unions focused on work related driving which encourages an organisation to effectively manage motor fleet risk.

In 2008 1441 people died in road accidents in Australia Driving At Work White Paper which is equivalent to five Airbus A330-200 crashes per year. Some comparative accidents rates are:

Activity                                    Death rate                        injury rate

            Driving                               1:  8000                        1:359             (2007 figure whilst driving)           

            Mining/Quarrying             1:  7500

            Construction                     1:10000

            Agriculture                        1:13500

There is significant risk that your driver will be involved in a collision in which they injure themselves, their passengers or other road users. This is further compounded by their private mileage where an accident could also have a profound impact on an employee’s productivity at work.

Quantifying the Risk.

DriverCare  reviews the risk factors that affect your vehicles and drivers from recruitment through to day to day business activity. We help you determine if your existing management controls, policies and procedures are effective and relevant to your exposures. We consider elements of driver/manager communication and supervision, policies and procedures, driver documentation, incident reporting and investigation.

Your Risk Mitigation Strategy.

Creating a Risk Adverse Culture.

This is driven by your organisation through the introduction of an ongoing accident risk management system. This service creates the “safety net” and takes a positive step toward meeting your “Duty of Care” obligations under OH&S legislation.

It is important that your interventions are determined using an informed and targeted approach based on proven Health and Safety principles:

1. Can the risk be ELIMINATED
2. Can the risk be REDUCED
3. Can the risk be SUBSTITUTED

Using this approach an organisation will target every key risk it is concerned about and for each of these there will be a list of interventions that can be chosen based on the risk appetite and operational needs of your business. This approach allows you to implement different interventions for different employee groups based on their role within your organisation e.g. the intervention for a delivery truck driver might differ from a sales person.

Once a strategy has been decided and the controls implemented, the final step requires your ongoing maintenance, monitoring and review of the process.

Maintaining your Risk Awareness.

This is the biggest issue associated with the continual improvement of the road risk management process. Monitoring the process involves measuring the key performance indicators. These are accident rate, accident cost, accident types, injuries, etc. It is important that all incidents are reported, including under excess and nil damage and not just those resulting in an insurance claim.

Once the risk process has been implemented, it must be regularly reviewed to cater for changes in technology, legislation and procedural changes.

The work related road risk management process is not a one off activity but an ongoing process which should be embedded along with all your other sound business practices. Initially it makes sense to tackle high risk areas, but over time lesser risks can be addressed to achieve continuous improvement in your safety culture and therefore lowering your accident rate.