Nigel Grainger brings together a related set of skills that all fleets require, to greater or lesser
degrees, but which may not have the staffing or the skills to fulfil those needs.
Bringing his wealth of experience in all areas of fleet management he offers a bespoke service through his company Fleet Risk Consultants, providing you with a cost effective fleet that complies fully with your 'duty of care' requirements.Corporate Manslaughter Legislation – What to do when it goes wrong
This is an important thing to consider and prepare for, because it does not matter how good your systems, procedures and policies are, the fact that you employ humans (who are fallible) in your business means that at some point one of them will make a human error and cause you some potential problems.
So in the knowledge that one day you are going to have to deal with a serious collision involving one of your vehicles, is it not sensible to both have a plan to deal with it and moreover try out that plan to see if it works. Most organisations have a fire drill to check that the building can be safely and quickly evacuated, so why don’t you spend a small amount of time planning for the most likely case of killing an employee or member of the public and exposing yourself to a possible prosecution under Corporate Manslaughter Legislation?
You should have an escalation policy to notify certain senior mangers of the incident, this should always result in the Managing Director or Chairman being notified immediately of any fatal accident. This is so they can prepare for any press interest, especially if you have branded vehicles traversing the highways.
You must also have a strict policy on who can speak on behalf of the company or organisation to Enforcement Agencies like the Police, VOSA and the HSE. Any interviews given to these agencies will be under caution, which gives the individuals certain rights. Whoever you authorise to speak on your behalf should be very good at it, as the interviews they give WILL be used in evidence against you.
If you are not confident about answering the questions under caution, consider engaging an external Enforcement Liaison Team who can, with written authority, speak and act on your behalf. They should be able to manage the investigation process and steer you through any pitfalls that may occur. They should also be able to prepare the ground for the Legal Team, should they be required. A good Enforcement Liaison Team will also check that the collision investigation work is up-to the required evidential standards and check that the conclusions have been correctly interpreted.
Fleet Risk Consultants are fully indemnified to provide this type of service, so before it goes wrong you should give them a call and make sure you have everything in place for when it goes wrong.
Nigel Grainger
Senior Consultant