August 2009 - M&G Vehicle hire\'s safety focus win national recognition in fleet road safety awards
M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd., a subsidiary of Britain's largest vehicle rental company, Northgate Vehicle Hire., has been 'highly commended' in the annual Fleet Safety Forum Awards organised by road safety charity Brake.
M&G Vehicle Hire, which specialise in the rental of commercial vehicles, operates a fleet of mostly small and medium sized vans from depots in Hull, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Sheffield. Its primary target is the commercial vehicle hire market in South and East Yorkshire as well as North Lincolnshire.
The awards recognise excellence in road risk management in helping to reduce the number of at-work drivers involved in crashes on Britain's roads.
The Government estimates that up to 200 road deaths and serious injuries a week result from crashes involving at work drivers. More employees are killed and seriously injured on Britain's roads while driving on behalf of their employer than in any other work-related activity
M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd was 'highly commended' in the Safe Vehicles Award category for what the judges described as the company's "excellent vehicle maintenance regime".
The company's commitments to its customers include ensuring that vehicles are comprehensively serviced to aid legal compliance with clients' duty of care responsibilities.
Additionally, M&G Vehicle Hire ensures that every vehicle is inspected by an IRTEC (Institute of Road Transport Engineers) qualified mechanic and is signed off as meeting the company's road safety standards prior to issue to a customer. This process is applied every time the vehicle is hired out, even if more than once in a single day.
Additionally, M&G Vehicle Hire has:
- Implemented the Health and Safety Executive's 'Successful Health and Safety Management' (HSG 65) guidance so ensure consistent health and safety standards and disciplines are in place across all depots.
- Formed a head office steering group to review health and safety policy issues on a regular basis.
- Published health and safety procedures and vehicle user manuals alongside a rolling training programme, involving all employees, designed to promote a positive health and safety culture throughout the business.
- Distributed best practice occupational road risk management advice and information to customers.
M&G Vehicle Hire is already recognised as operating one of Britain's safest fleets with the company being one of an elite group of 26 organisations that are 'business champions' under the Department for Transport's occupational road risk management outreach programme.
The initiative, called the 'Driving for Better Business' campaign, is managed by RoadSafe, the automotive industry-backed charity and a leading forum for promoting and devising solutions to road safety problems.
The 'business champions' are used by the campaign organisers to promote the spread of best practice occupational road risk management procedures to other public and private sector fleets.
Adrian Kilvington, managing director, M&G Vehicle Hire, said: "We are naturally delighted that our top to bottom focus on road safety and particularly the approach we take to vehicle maintenance has been recognised in the Fleet Safety Forum Awards.
"Poorly maintained vehicles are potential killing machines, which is why we have put into place processes that ensure our vehicles are only rented out in tip-top condition.
"But, as a vehicle rental company, we also believe that we have a moral duty to promote best practice occupational road risk management to our customers. We are pleased that many clients have introduced measures to improve the safety of their own drivers and other road users as a result of the advice we have given them.
"Government figures show that the number of road crash victims in Britain is reducing. However, we can all do more to promote road safety to ensure that the reduction in death and injury continues."
In the UK, Northgate Vehicle Hire operates a fleet of more than 65,000 vehicles from around 75 locations.
The Fleet Safety Forum Awards were held on Thursday (June 25) at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwick. They were sponsored by fleet management company Arval.
