Corporate fleets on 'borrowed time'
Companies that operate fleets that do not incorporate risk management recommendations could face corporate manslaughter charges, a solicitor has warned.
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This is because companies are taking an apparently lax approach by the Health and Safety Commission’s investigation arm – the Health and Safety Executive – to mean they can breath a sigh of relief with regard to at-work safety.
But David Faithful, non-executive director of vehicle risk management company Risk Answers and a national insurance solicitor, warned: ‘It is my view that in the event of a serious road incident there is a risk that both the police and the HSE using their existing powers could prosecute for any number of offences from corporate manslaughter to aiding and abetting.’
Faithful said he hoped the HSC would develop existing structures and ‘send out a clear signal to the fleet industry that at-work safety will not be left on the back burner until 2004’.
The HSC has said it could not meet increasing demands for inspection and investigations because of ‘current resource limits’.
It is estimated that 1,000 road deaths a year and more than 100,000 injuries are the result of at-work driving accidents.