Making Safety easy to understand for Fleet Operators

So I recently spoke to Trucking Magazine about 'Making Health & Safety Law easy to understand, to help you sleep easy at night' here is the interview.

TM; Pete, tell us a bit about Flagship Partners…

PR; Flagship Partners provide consultancy and training services to our Fleet & Transport clients helping them to be Safer, Greener & Greater.

TM; What sort of services do you offer?

PR; Flagship offer consultancy solutions, to help our clients perform excellently with both Health & Safety law and Operator Licencing too, we can ensure Directors are properly protected.?We can support with Audits, Systems, Policies, Processes & Risk Assessments.?We also help operators achieve & maintain DVSA Earned Recognition, FORS and ISO standards if they choose.

TM; You also do training too?

PR; Yes we can then provide Training, including Driver Assessments & Inductions, Banksman, Driver CPC & Transport Manager CPC training too.?We also offer other H & S related courses like First Aid, Working at Height & Manual handling too.?

TM; Wow that’s quite comprehensive.?What challenges do you commonly find Trucking businesses face?

PR; Generally speaking we find that most operators are pretty compliant with their operator licencing, they know they need to maintain their vehicles, carry out driver daily checks and analyse Tachograph data.?However, we often find that Operators fall short on their need for H&S systems & documentation.?Leaving them exposed to unnecessary risk.

TM; What does an Operator need to do to comply with H&S Law?

PR; Employers have what is called a duty, like a legal obligation to their staff, contractors and members of the public who come in to contact with their business.?Whether that is on their site like their operating centre or out on deliveries and people interacting with their drivers.?Businesses which employ 5 or more people, including the director need to have a documented H&S management system, it is kind of similar to their Transport Management system but specifically for H&S.

TM; What is included in a H&S Management System?

PR; We would meet with the company directors and see how they wanted safety to be managed in their business.?We would carry out an audit and profile the risk in the business.?We would then suggest solutions that are proportionate to the business.?Solutions can include, H&S Policy, Risk Assessments, Safe Systems of Work, but most importantly we would focus on how this is communicated and implemented across the people in the business.?We ensure the advice we give is straight forward, simple to use and easy to deliver.?That is the right approach for the size of risk in the business.

TM; It must be tricky to manage H&S with Drivers potentially being all over the country?

PR; That’s right it is a challenge for Operators, many have out based drivers so it can be hard getting infringements signed let alone communicating a Risk Assessment.?However, we work together with Transport Managers and Directors to help them make sure that drivers are aware of what they need to know and help the Directors & Managers ensure they are protected.

TM; Many people say ‘Health and Safety’s gone mad!’

PR; Ha ha, they’re probably right.?We make sure our advice is easy to understand, straightforward and no nonsense.?We make sure the people in your business have the protection at the level you need. Helping you ensure it is implemented and received well in your team.?H&S should never prohibit work from being done, it is there to ensure the safety of the people completing or affected by the work.

TM; Transport is a pretty risky business right?

PR; 100% yes, there are loads of statistics out there the two top causes of fatalities at work in the UK are ‘struck by a moving vehicle’ 2nd and 1st is working at height.?Agriculture tends to top the list with Construction, Manufacturing 3rd and Transportation and Storage 4th.?However, it is important to note Trucking Mag readers will work in a cross section of all 4 of these sectors & Waste & Recycling is also a high risk industry for injury too.

TM; If the Traffic Commissioner regulates operator licencing who regulates H&S?

PR; H&S is regulated in the UK by the HSE.?Penalties in the UK for breach of duty of the Health & Safety at Work Act can lead to fines, disqualification and imprisonment too.?People often incorrectly think that their insurance will settle personal injury claims, it can be more sinister than that.?The Act I mention states that directors must have access to ‘competent advice’.?Flagship Partners can provide this for them.

If you are interested in guidance for Health and Safety in your business, fleet or otherwise, why not get in touch for a chat today.