‘Have I ticked the management box?’ Backhouse Jones’ latest seminar was designed to help operators stay compliant, and routeone has the details
“I don’t want to see you, don’t take it personally; you don’t want to see me. So let’s just mutually agree to never see each other again,” Traffic Commissioner (TC) Richard Turfitt told delegates at Backhouse Jones’ Compliance and Transport Law seminar last week (30 January).
Mr Turfitt, along with Jonathon Backhouse, Director and Solicitor at Backhouse Jones, discussed the essential ways to be compliant at the seminar held at Duxford’s Imperial War Museum.
The scapegoat
‘There's no such thing as a bad dog, only bad owners’ – isn’t that the saying? So if something ultimately goes wrong with an operator’s drivers – who’s to blame, and ultimately, how do operators minimise the risks?
Mr Backhouse discussed in detail through his presentation, aptly titled ‘Scapegoat’, the different drivers operators come in to contact with, and the dangerous effects they can have on the company.
The scapegoat – which is described as “a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others” – is the driver.
Mr Backhouse says: “Although the driver may have done something wrong, or carry an element of responsibility and accountability, often the real perpetrator is the company that fails to address the risks.
To address these risks, ask yourself: “Have I ticked the management box?” he says. “Ask this now before there is trouble.”
Effective management
An operators’ drivers will cross a broad spectrum of compliancy and it’s important that the company knows who the driver is, and how competent they are at performing their job.
The first step to ensuring compliancy is to evaluate what can go wrong, Mr Backhouse says.
Health and safety was a key theme throughout the seminar.
Mr Backhouse referred to the incident that happened in December 2014, when a bin lorry crashed and killed six people in Glasgow after the driver lost consciousness behind the wheel.
The driver had his licence revoked for medical reasons, and even though a similar blackout had happened to him before, he did not disclose the incident to his employers. Mr Backhouse says: “That was our warning.”
The big deterrent to disclosing medial conditions is the risk of losing a job, which is why the responsibility of seeing if a driver is safe to drive really falls with the company.
How to spot the signs:
- Medical questionnaire: Put this into place before they start, and carry out an annual review. It can be refused unless the contract states that it is a necessity
- Keep your ear to the ground: Listen to ‘gossip’, but don’t immediately assume it’s true
- Be more cautious: Look out for undiagnosed conditions, such as falling asleep on breaks – this could be a sign of sleep apnoea.
Know your drivers
The seminar introduced the audience to three different types of drivers.
The ‘eager to please’ driver: They do an extra job, always volunteer to help, are looking for overtime and unable to say no – but stand the risk of breaking drivers’ hours regulations.
A ‘bone idle’ driver is the one who finds every shortcut they can, says they can’t when in fact they can, and just simply breaks the rules – there is the possibility that they don’t perform their dalk-round checks correctly.
The ‘know-it-all’ driver, Mr Backhouse says, are very dangerous drivers due to them not being able to follow the operator’s instructions.
Although these are three very different drivers, they create the same problem, difficult to manage and are, as described by Mr Backhouse, “a huge liability.”
How to minimise incidents:
- CCTV monitoring
- GPS tracking
- Provide clear instructions
- Vehicle security.
‘The good manager’
“I make no apologies reminding operators of the basics,” Mr Turfitt says.
The ‘basic’ mistakes are failing to ensure vehicles are taxed, insured and MoT’d and that drivers have both the right category of driving licence and a valid CPC.
Stated in the Traffic Commissioners’ Annual Reports 2016-17, published in October 2017, it says the number of PSV Public Inquiries fell from 162 in 2015/16 to 148 in 2016/17. “It is comforting to know TCs are taking strong regulatory action; it is nonetheless worrying that so many PSV operators still cannot get the basics right.”
In the report, Mr Turfitt says: “Statistics suggest that only 16% of licences go unaltered on renewal. This implies that a staggering 84% of operators may not be complying with the condition to notify relevant changes within 28 days.
“Where operators are committed to compliance and safety, it is right to support those efforts. I am concerned at the number of directors who, even by the PI, have failed to take responsibility for compliance.”
- Future events at goo.gl/nF4xt9
routeone comment
Being compliant: It appears that the health of drivers is a real issue.
One operator in attendance revealed the great lengths they had gone to just to simply find out details of an employee’s medication, highlighting the important role, and position the employer plays in ensuring their drivers are fit to be behind the wheel.
Mr Turfitt said the issue of health is only going to get harder. Mr Backhouse said we need more women in the industry – because women go to the doctors more frequently.
Overall, it was established that employers need to be more aware, and put in place – whether it be a questionnaire with an annual review – a system to really get to know the people behind the wheel.