“Fleet risk strategy …… how to see the wood for the trees”

"So how am I supposed to pull all this fleet risk data together and come to some sensible conclusions when I have all these other fleet responsibilities to deal with?"

The feedback we get from fleets is sometimes relating to ‘why invest in Risk management’, but more usually it’s about lack of resources – not just time resources but also expertise in deciding what’s the best course of action.

Of course, it’s easy to outsource claims, licence checking, telematics, driver training and online assessments BUT fleets don’t always realise they are creating a monster in so doing.

The reasons are as follows:

·         Risk data starts pouring in via portals, emails and hard copy reports

·         The data comes in at different times of the year and in different formats

·         It’s not always clear what the data is trying to say so analysing it is time-consuming

·         How to decide what represents a high risk and what should be done about it, is a problem

·         Having dealt with high risk drivers, how do you make sure the action taken, has worked?

Managers with fleet responsibilities usually have other functions to perform so it is not easy to find time to bring all of these Fleet Risk elements together in a way that maximises their effectiveness.

Indeed, very often the three departments of Fleet, HR and Health & Safety will take responsibility for different elements of the road risk program, which further complicates the harmonising of data and often results in missed opportunities to reduce risk.

So, apart from lack of time, internal risk expertise and departmental structure issues, most fleets also lack the other key element to make a risk program successful and that is a satisfactory electronic receptacle into which they can deposit all the risk data and also check that none of it exceeds the organisation’s minimum risk levels.

The net result of all these hurdles for a fleet is that risks get overlooked, which is not only dangerous, it risks the fleet becoming guilty of ‘willful blindness’. Furthermore, some fleets actually choose to turn a blind eye to high risk data because even if they know what to do about it – they often don’t have the time or resources to resolve it!

This is where the outsourced risk management industry is able to lend a hand in planning a program that is fit-for-purpose in terms of available budget and program objectives.

At RVM we build tailored risk management programs for fleets based on what priorities the fleet has identified.  These range from the very simple to the most complex depending on fleet profile, what needs outsourcing and what stage of the risk journey the fleet is currently at.

We work on raising safety culture levels within a driving population and by offering a supportive approach to improving drivers’ skill, habits and on-road behaviour. 

The upside is that by choosing an approach that is designed to seek and iron out bad driving habits, a fleet will gain the support of its drivers, which in turn means its high risks can be identified and worked upon. 

Additionally, this will show that a duty of care exists and a better claims record will follow.  Insurance costs will come down and driving safety becomes second nature and integral to the driving culture. Wilful blindness won’t be possible and won’t therefore be a threat.

In our experience, when a fleet chooses to invest in our approach, it wants a positive and tangible benefit in return and this is why, at RVM, our efforts are focused on our mission to reduce accident frequency. 

So don’t choose to rely on lady luck when you renew your fleet insurance policy. Take a more positive view by controlling fleet risk with RVM as your guide and partner. Learn more about what options are open to you and at what cost by calling RVM on 0113 224 8800 or contact us here or e-mail us on risk@rvmassist.co.uk

At RVM Assist Ltd our integrated approach allows us to help fleets to implement effective safety policies, analyse trends and identify high risk drivers. Our Driver Training program is targeted, timely and appropriate.  The result is lower accident rates, improved driver safety, and reduced costs.

Telematics is like a steering wheel

What does that mean?

Well, a steering wheel’s true purpose in guiding a vehicle round a corner or keeping it on the straight and narrow is not revealed until it is being used properly.  In other words connected to the front wheels so the driver can control the vehicle.

Similarly, a telematics system cannot help you to make decisions to change course or even stick to the one you are on unless it is used properly.  In other words, its true purpose is only revealed when somebody actually uses it.

They both look impressive from an engineering point of view but they are both useless unless they are used for the purpose for which they were both manufactured.

You may think this is a somewhat glib comparison but beneath the analogy there is in fact a serious and meaningful point for fleets.

Huge investment has gone into creating the telematics industry and even more money has been paid by fleets who have bought this technology.  The reasons fleets have bought into telematics range from a desire to protect assets to controlling drivers to reducing fuel costs to becoming legally compliant.

However, it has become clear to RVM that many fleets do not use the data that is available from the various reports, portals and alerts that this technology offers and this represents a symptom of a broader issue that is holding fleets back from making real strides forward in reducing risk.

Fleets are increasingly buying licence checking, claims management, driver assessments and telematics systems BUT the results available from all these providers are not being brought into one electronic driver safety file, analysed, acted upon and re-measured.

This is not really surprising because it is not an easy task.  To receive different data in different formats from different sources at different times requires a constant watchful eye, specialist software and risk expertise.

How does a fleet decide what is a serious risk, how does it consistently apply risk assessment, what remedial action does it take to reduce risk and finally, how does it measure whether such action was successful?

So the easy bit for a fleet is making sure these things are done.  The tricky bit is pulling it all together in a way that really adds value by reducing claim frequency, insurance premiums and increasing legal compliance and brand protection.

The answer to all these questions can be answered and is the specialist expertise of RVM Fleet Services.  We’d love to show you how we make fleet risk reduction easy for our clients so please  contact us now on 01132248888 or e-mail risk@rvmfleetservices.co.uk and we can arrange a short demonstration.

 

At RVM Fleet Services our integrated approach allows us to help fleets to implement effective safety policies, analyse trends and identify high risk drivers. Our Driver Training program is targeted, timely and appropriate.  The result is lower accident rates, improved driver safety, and reduced costs.

 

.

Running a Fleet. How risky is it, really?

In the light of recent contradictory court decisions involving corporate manslaughter by fleets, maybe the question is now: What, in the hierarchy of a fleet's needs, is the more important: health & safety compliance or reduced claims experience? Or are they just as important as each other?

The work involved in achieving the latter usually means automatic success in the former but not necessarily the other way round. In other words, it is quite possible to comply with health and safety law but still have a poor claims record. 

Indeed, it is easy to measure claims experience but not so easy to know if your fleet safety measures are enough to avoid prosecution for a lack of duty of care. So what does a fleet do?  

It certainly seems easier to comply legally than reduce claim frequency and that may be why most fleet insurance premiums are on the rise.  Some fleets choose to look at a few licences, issue a fleet safety policy and hey presto - compliance is ostensibly achieved. 

This may or may not be true; however, if what you want is to reduce claims, a fleet needs to know what and who have caused the claims historically and likewise who may cause them in the future and why. To do this accurately a fleet needs to embrace as many tools as possible to identify which drivers pose the greatest risk and then take appropriate steps.  

The chosen tools usually include checking licences and assessing drivers online but to maximise the chance of success, a fleet should also include claims data and a telematics feed, which are both factual and constant. The issue then is who gets the data and how do you bring it together to draw the correct conclusions? 

So you've gathered the data, so to whom do the risks point? Why? How serious is it? What might be the appropriate cure? When should it be administered? By whom? With what result? 

All these questions can be answered on behalf of a fleet and they demonstrate why most fleets need help in this area from a specialist fleet supplier that can link closely with fleet drivers to make sure money spent on assessing and training drivers’ results in a reduction in claims experience and an increase in duty of care. 

  

At RVM Fleet Services our integrated approach allows us to help fleets to implement effective safety policies, analyse trends and identify high risk drivers. Our Driver Training program is targeted, timely and appropriate.  The result is lower accident rates, improved driver safety, and reduced costs.

Contact us now on 01132248888 or e-mail risk@rvmfleetservices.co.uk to find out more.

 

Why is the need to integrate sources of fleet risk data so important?

What is the issue here?

In the latter part of the 20^th century, we saw a dramatic rise in the use of contract hire as a way of acquiring motor vehicles for business.  The reason was not just because it was off-balance sheet but because in one monthly payment, the fleet could buy an integrated solution that included acquisition, disposal, funding and maintenance.

As we now view the need for safety compliance in fleet risk as well as the drive for reduced accident claims, it is hard not to draw a parallel with the contract hire industry.  This is because fleets are again faced with a multi-faceted hurdle in checking licences, profiling and training drivers, controlling grey fleet and optimising claims handling.

To further complicate matters, whilst fleets are perfectly capable of buying these services (from lease providers, insurance companies and other providers), very often the fleet is left on its own when faced with deciding which to buy, how much to buy, at what price, for what reason and with what results. 

Why is this an issue?

Clearly, different fleets have different resources in this area depending on their size and their appetite to engage in a program designed to reduce road risk.  Despite these variations, common needs of all fleets are:

1.     to integrate all risk data into one, visible, accessible location,

2.     to be able to test risk data inputs instantly for severity using consistent parameters,

3.     to quickly implement pre-agreed remedial actions arising from higher risks,

4.     to check if the action taken achieved the overall program objective.

Given all this work, on top of implementing the risk services themselves, it is easy to see that for a fleet to achieve its overall objective to reduce road risk, demands a sophisticated integration of several sources of dynamic data.  Regrettably for the fleet, reducing road risk via the tools above, represents a relatively new concept and therefore not easy to do in-house via an off-the-shelf software application. As a consequence it becomes a manual and time-consuming job that creates delays and thereby, perversely, increases risk!

Even if systems were available, the fleet would need expertise to decide how to interpret levels of risk and indeed what to do about them. This falls within the scope of skills of a risk co-ordinator that knows what has worked in the past and without that knowledge, a fleet is left only with the option of experimenting in the hope the type of remedial action taken does in fact reduce risk.

Another challenge for fleets is in making sure the integration of risk data occurs consistently throughout the year because the time delay between a risk being identified and the cure being applied does have an impact on how effectively the cure works.  For example if a driver that has a blameworthy incident due to poor roundabout technique, receives training on that problem more than three months after the incident, its relevance (and the longevity of the training message) is lower than if it were carried out two weeks after the incident.

The solution?

• The fleet should seek advice as to where it sits in terms of safety initiatives and what would be necessary to raise that level to a point that is compatible with the organisation’s aspiration
•  The fleet should then create a solution-led (as opposed to product-led) road risk reduction program in partnership with a specialist risk management supplier that focuses on raising safety culture amongst drivers
• The fleet should select a single supplier that can offer all the risk tools as one cohesive solution (including claims) supplied by one accessible team that appoints one personal risk manager to every driver.
• The supplier should offer reliable advice on how to interpret multiple sources of driver profiling data so as to maximize the effectiveness of any remedial action 
•  Connections between principal causes of risk and potential remedial action should be pre-empted and defined so there’s a pre-set matrix that takes in all eventualities 
• The lead time between risk causation and remedial action needs to be shorter so as to increase the effectiveness of the curative measures.

At RVM Fleet Services our integrated approach allows us to help fleets to implement effective safety policies, analyse trends and identify high risk drivers. Our Driver Training program is targeted, timely and appropriate.  The result is lower accident rates, improved driver safety, and reduced costs.

Contact us now on 01132248888 or e-mail risk@rvmfleetservices.co.uk to find out more.