Journeys
The risk of a road crash or security incident is higher the longer drivers and vehicles travel on the road, especially in hazardous or more dangerous environments. Therefore, reducing this exposure is an important aspect in improving fleet safety performance. An organisation needs to review its overall logistics strategy and considers whether changes in transport mode, or vehicle type, or the supply and delivery systems can reduce exposure to risk without impacting upon its overall performance.
At the same time, it is important that the organisation develop policies to manage specific journey related risks such as night time driving, use of higher-risk routes and areas, weather conditions, etc, and put in place procedures to control these. It is also important that the journeys are planned to ensure safe working hours are maintained and that drivers are rested to avoid tiredness and fatigue.
Finally, it is recommended that the organisation implement a Vehicle and Journey Authority procedure to control the use of transport assets. This will help ensure the allocation of appropriate vehicles for each task, and that drivers are approved and qualified for the type of vehicle they are using.
A range of Journey Management Tools and Forms are available via the Fleet Safe website. Using these materials in combination with the information provided in this section which focuses on detailing the primary elements of risk based journey scheduling and route planning will enable organisations to implement effective journey management systems.
