Veriforce CHAS, a supply chain risk management and compliance specialist, has appointed FleetCheck as its approved fleet software supplier, bolstering work to help fleets raise safety standards.
Veriforce CHAS recently launched its Vehicle Compliance Standard (VCS), designed for use by SME van and truck operators across the sector.
Developed with National Highways and Driving for Better Business, the VCS enables Veriforce CHAS SME members to easily evidence that they are meeting standards on managing work-related road risk – and is supported by FleetCheck within its core software and accompanying apps.
Alex Minett, head of global new markets at Veriforce CHAS, said: “Many tradespeople and organisations offering mobile services do not class themselves as drivers, or as employing drivers. However, it doesn’t matter what type of business is using vehicles or how many they have. If an employee uses a vehicle for work purposes, even to travel to a job or meeting, they have legal responsibilities for, and while driving the vehicle.”
He added that employees and the self-employed also had a duty to look after their own health and safety, and that of anyone who might be affected by their work, and this included the activity of driving on public roads.
Minett continued: “Failure to manage the risk doesn’t just put drivers and other road users at risk, It can put directors and senior managers, reputations – even the organisation itself – at risk. Changes to Health & Safety legislation have increased both the likelihood of prosecution and the levels of penalty imposed against organisations and individuals following serious incidents involving vehicles.
“If an employee is killed, for example while driving for work, and there is evidence that serious management failures resulted in a ‘gross breach of a relevant duty of care,’ the organisation could be at risk of being prosecuted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
“This is very much why we have formed this new partnership with FleetCheck. Vehicle safety of this type is a growing issue in our sector, we believe, and their software products provide an infrastructure for vehicles operators to put measures in place to enable compliance and then to prove that standards are being met.”
Barrie Wilson CMILT, commercial fleet consultant at FleetCheck, said: “We already have extensive experience in the SME construction sector and are aware of its particular needs, so have been able to code the new VCS into our products relatively easily.
“What we are offering to Veriforce CHAS members is a core, desktop-based fleet management system linked to apps that allow evidence for compliance to be collected in real-world situations, typically by drivers conducting vehicle walkaround checks.
“We know that employers who manage their work-related road risk experience fewer incidents involving their vehicles, less days lost to injury, fewer repairs to their vehicles, reduced running costs and an improved service to their customer.”
Organisations demonstrating their compliance with this standard through the software are required to upload evidence to demonstrate that they meet the standard. The type of evidence that should be submitted includes company policies and processes, risk assessments, training records, employee and driver handbooks, and vehicle records.
Barrie added: “Using our software alongside the new VCS will enable these SME operators and manage their work-related road risk while developing their understanding, responsibilities, and business processes by working towards demonstrating compliance with tender specification requirements.”
Established in 2006 and based in Kemble, Gloucestershire, FleetCheck is one of the UK’s leading fleet software and management specialists, with a customer base of more than 2,000 customers operating in excess of 270,000 vehicles and assets.
