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Frequently Asked Questions About Road Risk Management

Road Risk Management from Roadmarque®

The legal situation

What is the legal requirement with respect to licence checks?

Section 87 (2) Road Traffic Act 1988: It is an offence for a person to cause or permit another person to drive on a road a motor vehicle of any class if that other person is not the holder of a licence authorising him to drive a motor vehicle of that class. This means that any employer will need to ensure that all employees driving on business hold a valid, relevant and current driver’s license.

Why are driver risk assessments important?

In addition to needing to ensure that each driver is appropriately licensed, the employer has a duty of care with respect to their employees when driving on business. This means that the risk inherent to driving needs to assessed and managed. The advice from HSE is that the risk needs to be managed within the reasonable means of the organisation. Roadmarque provides a cost-effective means to assessing the risk that each driver represents. In recent years around 140 people lost their lives at work each year. In addition, around 600 die on the roads during work related travel – this is more than 10 per week.

Is everyone doing the same thing?

Most (but not all) companies in the UK check their drivers' licences, but some are still asking to see your licence or inspect your licence record online with your permission manually. This is time consuming and very ineffective. The Roadmarque system is a highly effective computerised system and you do not need to bring in your licence every year. Increasingly organisations are also risk assessing drivers and Roadmarque offers a uniquely effective way to do this.

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Adopting Roadmarque

Why should our board of directors be interested?

The benefits of implementing a professional solution for the management of occupational road risk (MORR) in terms of legal compliance and cost savings are compelling. Without a proper MORR process the directors are not only personally liable under the corporate manslaughter legislation but also under what is known as the “modes of involvement” where they are likely to collect points on their own driving licences for the convictions of their employees (if their convictions relate to driving for the business). Whilst the HSE will take into account the financial position of the organisation with any prosecution, private prosecutions by employees for damages are often implemented through civil rights lawyers that make unreasonable demands and can lead to the bankruptcy of the employer. In addition to these legal arguments, assessing the risk that drivers pose to themselves and the business highlights this as a Health and Safety issue among the employees; in turn, this can help reduce costs due to collisions.

We cannot implement the system without the say so of the unions. What if they object?

It is correct procedure to involve the unions in the decision making process when implementing systems that require employees to disclose personal data. However, the Management of Occupation Road Risk is a safety critical step that any organisation needs to take to ensure the health and safety of the employees. Under the employer’s obligations for duty of care there is no option but to implement such systems – the unions recognise this and should fully support the employer with its implementation.

Will we be worse off if the system uncovers a problem that we can’t fix?

It is even worse not to enquire in the first place. If there is a problem that stays undetected because no system is in place for the management of occupational road risk (MORR) then the directors and the person responsible for the drivers are liable immediately without mitigating circumstances. If after enquiry a problem is discovered and the organisation acts within its means to address the problem, then this will show willing and lead to mitigating circumstances. The first step is to assess the situation and Roadmarque is the ideal tool to make that first step with minimum impact on time and money.

What information does an organisation need to supply?

All we need from an organisation (the employer) is a list of names and email addresses. In addition, a unique reference for each employee is required - this can be an employee number (or similar) or generated at random by Roadmarque.

What information does Roadmarque provide to the organisation?

Roadmarque provides a complete report about each driver in terms of their license, the risk level and a more detailed risk profile. This information can be used to design further measures in relation to the drivers to help minimise the risk that the employees are exposed to on the road.

Will we need to install any software?

Roadmarque is entirely web based. There is no software to install and it can be used anywhere in the world that you can find an internet connection and a PC, Mac or mobile device to use it with. Note that we do not recommend the use of a mobile phone, as the screen-size makes the completion of the tasks impractical.

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Data protection

What happens to the personal data that we give out?

Roadmarque uses unique identifiers for each person – for login and during e-approval for electronic licence checks. We appreciate the sensitivity of personal data and the security of it is of paramount importance to us. We go to great lengths to ensure that we are compliant with the law and protect personal data to a very high standard. To find out more about our policy, please review our data protection statement.

What is your fair processing and data protection policy?

Your data and the security of it, is of paramount importance to us. We go to great lengths to ensure that we are compliant with the law and protect personal data to a very high standard. To find out more about our policies, please review our fair processing and data protection statement .

What is your data privacy policy?

Imagitech takes customer data security and privacy extremely seriously. We are aware of the importance of maintaining customer confidentiality and we operate to a strict set of policies which are detailed in full in our privacy policy.

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From the perspective of a driver

What’s in it for me, the driver?

The primary purpose of the system is to identify any areas which put you at risk of being involved in a crash. By analysing and calculating your risk, we can advise your company on how to make you safer behind the wheel. As a secondary benefit, driver licence checks sometimes reveal that a licence has been revoked even though its owner had no idea that it had been! This is usually down to cloning where someone else has applied for a licence replacement in another driver’s name (a form of identity theft) and has then gone on to commit offences. When this happens, the checks performed by Roadmarque alert the individual to the problem, allowing them to do something about it.

What information does a driver need to supply?

Drivers are asked factual questions including about the number of miles they drive, the type of vehicle that they drive and how long they have had their licence. Combining this information with a driver's licence details allows us to calculate an accurate "risk profile" for each driver and recommend appropriate training as necessary.

How long does it take a driver to fill in their details?

It should take each driver no more than 5 minutes to complete the form.

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Green issues and CO2 calculations

How will Roadmarque help me with my green policy?

Roadmarque provides a detailed calculation of the CO2 footprint as generated from the vehicles used by the drivers in relation to their business and private mileage. Through repeated driver assessments this assists the organisations in measuring the CO2 footprint over time and introducing measures designed to reduce the generation of this greenhouse gas.

How is the CO2 footprint calculated?

The CO2 footprint calculation uses corrected tailpipe data to allow for realistic traffic conditions. It is based on the mileages and vehicle types recorded by each driver.

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