Companies have a Duty of Care towards employees who accumulate business miles as part of their job. This applies to company car drivers as well as those drivers who use their own vehicles for business use. In order to ensure the appropriate level of care is passed on to their employees, and to keep in-line with current legislation, more and more companies are sending their staff on in-car driver training courses.

These courses are designed for those drivers for whom additional on-road training is deemed appropriate because of their identified risk profile (following a risk-assessment), in-vehicle driver training is universally recognised as the single most effective way to reduce driver related incidents.

With a myriad of courses on offer from a mumber of established sources, companies often enter into in-car driver training agreements without fully considering exactly what their objectives are, what they perceive to be the ‘end-result’ from entering into such programmes; and without fully realising the potential of commissioning properly structured in-car driver training courses.

Ironically, a professional in-car driver training course shouldn’t actually start in a car. Objectives need to be set. What is it that companies want to get out of investing in this type of training for their staff? Is it to simply reduce accidents from their travelling work force? Or should they be thinking in a more preventative mode? Have they even thought about what the company accident history is? And more importantly why the history came to be?

It is all these considerations that need to be made prior to the actual in-car training. Following the initial risk assessment and categorisation of the drivers, a bespoke programme should be tailored that meets the agreed objectives. There is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ training programme. For those companies looking at the driver training purely on a cost-basis (e.g. multiple employees in a training car together)problems and mishaps may continue. Reputable in-car training providers recommend (where possible) that the courses be carried out on a one-to-one basis.

The training shouldn’t stop there. If sound investment is made against a carefully crafted set of objectives, then the results should be measured and then the findings implemented moving forward. The idea of prevention is often omitted from training programmes. Targeting the most vulnerable drivers (before incidents occur) should be a key objective at the risk assessment stage. Then for those who do find themselves in the centre of an incident, a full post accident report should be carried out – the analysis of which can be implemented into the programme.

Safer driving techniques can also have additional benefits for the company which can lead to more fuel efficient driving and contribute to lowering CO2 emissions, thus cutting costs and reducing the corporate carbon foot print at the same time.

In-vehicle driver training is designed to ensure that drivers have greater hazard and risk perception in order to reduce their vulnerability to accidents, as well as examining specific areas of driving skill and addressing any areas of concern, both to the trainer and to the driver.

Typically, an ideal in-vehicle driver training course will comprise some or all of the following elements:

• Licence, eyesight and vehicle check
• An introduction to safer driving and its benefits to the individual, the company and society in general
• Concentration, observation and anticipation
• The system of vehicle control, including best fuel efficiency
• Specific solutions matched to the experience of the company - for example, manoeuvring, reversing and parking accidents which are typically the most commonplace
• The principles of skid avoidance and skid correction
• An assessment of each driver’s ability
• Individual tailor-made training for each driver, paying particular attention to any specific problems he or she may have, as identified by their risk assessments
• A full debriefing at the end of each session to provide guidance and advice, specifically in relation to an individual’s risk profile
• A comprehensive printed report for the company, including each individual driver’s personal development plan
• A certificate of attendance for each trainee · Other bespoke content as required

Jon Abbott, Managing Director of Cardinus Fleet Risk Management, says:

“It is imperative that when companies choose their in-car driver training courses they look to the bigger picture and consider all of the factors that come in to force when managing a fleet of vehicles. By assessing and managing the risks of driving for work, avoidable costs can begin to be controlled and employers can play their part in both demonstrating their duty of care and an auditable compliance to legislation, while reducing the number of needless road deaths. Driver training is an essential part of this process.”

By considering an end-to-end solution for the safety of staff on the road, companies should be considering prevention as well as reactionary methods. In car driver training is key in reducing road risk and saving lives.

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