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It’s official! Fleet Support Group provides car and light commercial fleets with the most comprehensive solution to enable them to manage their at-work driving duty of care responsibilities.
Chippenham-based Fleet Support Group, which manages around 55,000 vehicles on behalf of some of Britain’s best-known companies, has driven off with the Best Safety Initiative Award at the 2009 Fleet News Awards - the industry’s annual ‘Oscars’ organised by the UK’s leading fleet industry weekly newspaper.
The success makes it a hat-trick of fleet awards for FSG, which in recent months has won the Van Fleet Safety Award in the inaugural awards from Fleet Van, a sister title to Fleet News, and was named Fleet Service Provider of the Year by road safety charity Brake.
FSG’s latest triumph for its web-enabled RiskMaster occupational road risk management solution was announced at a glittering ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Wednesday (March 18, 2009).
In announcing FSG as the winner of the 2009 Best Safety Initiative Award, the independent panel of judges assembled from across the fleet industry by Fleet News commented: “RiskMaster was the clear winner of the Best Safety Initiative category because of the comprehensive way it covers the entire spectrum of occupational road risk.”
The focal point of RiskMaster is a ‘Permit to Drive’, which means each driver and vehicle annually passing a rigid ‘fit for the road’ examination with regular online driver declarations about licences and health status - to ensure employers are completely aware of all issues affecting their drivers. Failure to reply can mean withdrawal of a driver’s ‘permit’.
Employees are granted a ‘Permit to Drive’ following a DVLA licence check, and an online driving assessment that is then used as the basis for any training as highlighted following analysis, profiling drivers as ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’ risk. Vehicle maintenance records, insurance details and any data on crashes and motoring offences are also fed into the system.
As information is supplied, it is analysed by the RiskMaster software system, which then point-scores a driver’s data. If points rise above a preset level, management is alerted. A driver can qualify for a permit, or a temporary permit, or be denied.
The analysis is a continual process so every driver has a ‘Driver Operating Life Report’ and they are simultaneously measured against their employer’s own specific parameters. A telematics option can also be added to RiskMaster.
The Fleet News Awards judges were particularly enthusiastic about RiskMaster’s ‘Permit to Drive’ feature that is applicable whether employees drive a company vehicle or their own car on business trips.
FSG chairman Geoffrey Bray, who was presented with the Award, said: “Occupational road risk management is not only crucial in terms of compliance with the law, but it is a proven mechanism for reducing fleet operating costs. The judges were all fleet experts who see and use many fleet safety solutions. We are delighted that they view RiskMaster as the indisputable market leader.”
Fleets using RiskMaster include: WHSmith, Dun & Bradstreet, Balfour Beatty Utility Services, Unison and the Labour Party.
Fleet Support Group (FSG) is the largest independent vehicle management company in the UK and looks after approximately 50,000 vehicles.
The well-established organisation based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, has gained an enviable reputation within the industry by continually concentrating on delivering a consistent, quality service embracing full vehicle acquisition and disposal, vehicle outsourcing, fleet management, risk management and work-related road safety, maintenance management, accident management, breakdown recovery, short-term car rental and truck management.
Within the FSG team, there is significant industry experience and qualifications across the range of services provided. This in turn is supported by an in-house IT operation which is continuously upgrading the internal systems and applications to ensure that, by innovation and product development, FSG leads the field in the provision of vehicle management.
For further information contact: FSG chairman Geoffrey Bray on 0844 8000 700