Covid-19: Fleet Management

Over the last months, we have all begun to live and work in a very different environment. Driving for Better Business, along with strategic partner FleetCheck, have collaborated on a series of short videos to help fleet operators and business owners navigate new challenges.

For those of you responsible for managing company vehicles, and with people who drive for work, there are many new challenges to navigate. None of us know for sure how long the disruption due to COVID-19 is going to last or, when we start to come out of it, what the new ‘normal’ is going to look like. Driving for Better Business have provided informative videos to assit fleet managers and business adjust to this uncertain and fast changing environment.

UNCERTAIN TIMES

Click to watch Driving for Better Business and FleetCheck’s video here with important information outlining some of the affects businesses can expect to see as a result of Government regulations and ‘lockdown’.

ESSENTIAL DRIVERS

Many business offering essential services are now operating at, or even above, maximum capacity. While there are currently temporary relaxations of regulations in areas such as drivers’ hours, this does not reduce your duty of care responsibilities to manage work-related road risk. In this video DfBB look at the challenges around maintaining safety critical policies such as the management of driver fatigue as well as issues around driver recruitment, driver eligibility and sanitisation where multiple employees may be using the same vehicle. Click here to watch the video.

NON-ESSENTIAL DRIVERS

While those who can are now working from home leading to a massive increase in lone working, we’ve also seen many businesses with non-essential staff, including many van drivers, furloughing staff who are now sat at home wondering what the future holds. In this video, DfBB also look at some the financial challenges for non-essential drivers including the tax implications on company cars that are currently unable to be used.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

The primary concern of any business currently is maintaining customer relationships and keeping the business as financially sound as possible. In this video, DfBB look at different ways of maintaining positive cashflow such as the Governments job retention scheme, VAT deferral and supplier payment holidays. They also address the opportunity to focus on fleet efficiency so that you can strip out unnecessary operational costs and return to work in a strong position.

VEHICLE MAINTENANCE

A combination of lack of engineers due to self-isolation, and the closing of many garages means there is a serious lack of capacity to keep up with vehicle maintenance requirements. The temporary suspension of MOTs and maintenance schedules is meant to help keep vital business operational however you are still absolutely required to ensure your vehicles are roadworthy at all times – something the Traffic Commissioners and Health and Safety Executive have explicitly reinforced. In this video, DfBB discuss the challenges of maintaining an operational fleet, managing mileage, and the implications of mothballing non-essential vehicles.

FLEET ADMIN & HOUSEKEEPING

If your fleet is classed as essential then you may be extremely stretched and feeling you aren’t able to focus everything as much as you would like but this video can’t stress enough the importance of ensuring all staff, and especially any new recruits, follow established policies – and now more than ever. This is highlighted by the recent successful prosecution of a business for a fatal accident following its failure to follow its own fatigue management policies. If you’re running a non-essential fleet, you may find this is an opportune time to watch the video and start developing stronger procedures that build additional efficiency and resilience into your fleet management before we all return to work.

BACK TO NORMAL

Most seem to agree that ‘normal’ won’t look like it did before and elements of the fleet and transport world will have changed forever. The fast adoption of online meetings may, for instance, mean managing much lower car mileage in future. In this final overview video, DfBB discuss some of the key issues fleet and transport managers will have to address over the coming months such as the extensive checks required before reinstating mothballed vehicles, important considerations when bringing back furloughed drivers, and why the backlog in vehicle maintenance will cause significant problems for some time to come.

For further advice and guidance on managing your fleet, reducing work-related road risk and improve compliance with current legislation and guidance, head to Driving for Better Business here.