Beware danger signals ahead
Feb 12 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette
LAWYERS and fleet management experts are urging Tees bosses to review their company car policies ahead of new legislation which will make firms liable if staff are involved in an accident.
The Fleet Training Centre in Stockton is so concerned by firms’ ignorance of the new Corporate Manslaughter Act, due to be introduced on April 6, that it has arranged a series of free seminars.
The Fleet’s George Barnett said: “The new Act has massive implications for every business and new policies and procedures need to be put in place now to ensure protection from potential litigation.” And he pointed to an alarming trend for courts to award families of staff injured or killed on work business sums worth up to 30 times the victim’s salary.
Although the Act covers all work-related accidents, a key area relates to the estimated eight million employees who drive on work business, whether in a company car or in their own private vehicle.
All organisations are affected by the new legislation, which makes companies, as well as individuals, liable to prosecution for corporate manslaughter, where there has been a serious failing in management of health and safety.
Mr Barnett, a qualified driving instructor and fleet management consultant, said: “As a business owner or director, if you have staff on the road and they have an accident, it could be you who is found guilty.”
According to research, only 2% of car fleet managers regularly check private cars used on work journeys for general roadworthiness, compared with 80% of fleet managers who regularly check their company cars.
“Given that these private cars account for 36% of all corporate mileage, are on average significantly older than company vehicles, and are serviced less often, this should be an area of major concern,” said Mr Barnett.
Nazia Aftab a litigation lawyer with the Endeavour Partnership in Middlesbrough, said companies might even consider banning the use of private cars on business.
She said police would now be checking the context of every journey. “They will be looking at, for example, if they were on company business, if pressure was put on the driver to fulfil too many appointments on that day.”
She advised firms to check every employee and potential recruit’s licence against the DVLA database and carry out a risk assessment.
Endeavour insists all staff take out business insurance on their car policies, and offers to make up the difference in premiums.
The Department of Transport estimates that 300 people are killed each year because they fall asleep at the wheel and 40% of collisions involving tired drivers are in the course of employment.
The Fleet Training Centre Corporate Manslaughter Seminars offer practical and professional advice to organisations. They run on demand every Monday from 9.30am to 12.30pm at the company's premises in Innovation Court, Yarm Road, Stockton. Attendance is free.
