For every fleet, the work never seems to stop. Vehicles and drivers travel every day in order to perform tasks and fulfil the terms of sales, whether it be delivering goods, transporting material or traveling from one place to another to provide a service or expand the business. But driving and travelling is just the tip of the iceberg for those companies that depend on driving.
Driving could well be your most important business activity but when we talk of driving, what does it actually consist of? Drivers, who are prepared for the job; vehicles that are well maintained, safe and functioning according to their requirements; preparation of schedules, journeys etc. What needs to be done in order to run such a business seems never ending, and then there are the pressing questions you always have to be ready to answer:
Is your fleet legally compliant?
Do you regularly carry out your daily and weekly walk-around checks?
Do you train your drivers with a view to performing every task of their job safely?
Do you have a system in place for establishing these checks,
reporting defects and recording it all?
If you answered “yes” to the first question but are not sure about the subsequent ones, then your fleet is probably not 100% compliant and your initial “yes” should very well be a “no”.
Under UK, Ireland and EU legislation, owners are required and obliged to ensure vehicles are in a roadworthy condition, regular vehicle checks are completed and any defects rectified. In order to do so, a system comprising of risk assessments, training, checks and logging of all activity is necessary to legally guarantee vehicle roadworthiness.
European directive 2014/45/EU establishes precise obligations for frequent roadworthiness tests, 2014/46/EU on registration documents for vehicles and 2014/47/EU addresses roadside inspection of commercial vehicles as well as training. Companies are not only required to have a system in place for recording and reporting vehicle checks, but also to train drivers and staff to perform tasks safely and to guarantee safety in the place of work (and vehicles are a place of work).
Also according to the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012, companies which rely on driving have to:
“(i) carry out planned routine maintenance,
“(ii) carry out routine vehicle safety checks (including daily and weekly walk-around checks on vehicles), or
“(iii) put in place systems for recording and reporting maintenance activity, rectification of vehicle defects and training of staff.”
Technology, of course, can provide a great help in scheduling and recording maintenance and safety checks, as well as offering a convenient system able to record and report maintenance.
SynX Perform is able to help you achieve this goal today more than ever, with a new option in its Driver App and in the software interface for carrying out and recording walk-around checks. But it is not the only aspect of your fleet we can help with: if you want to reduce fuel consumption, make your fleet safer by monitoring driver behaviour and your journeys more efficient, schedule a demo with us.
