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ROUND TABLE Fu rther thoughts
Page 30
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There were one or two volunteers for our round table discussion who couldn't make it to our offices on the day. Louise Cole put some of the points to them later.
Kevin Brook, MD, Fleetmaster Operational Support Services. Fleetmaster has been running for over five years and has 200 drivers on its books.
We need a code of practice for both sides, agencies and users. The REC guidelines are not enough it needs to come from a transport environment.
Agencies should be regulated by government and policed by Vosa but the legislation we currently have is not sufficient to ensure good practice. Agencies should be licensed to meet certain criteria.
Road transport operators have to insist on the code of practice being met from anyone they use. because if people can opt out its useless. But that means not choosing purely on cost.
Fleetmaster has invested heavily in training drivers and being involved with SAFED, yet people don't acknowledge the different calibre of our drivers.
There's a lot of activity these days around best practice; a lot of operators putting policies in place and having papers signed, but it's often to protect senior management in the event of a crash. It has to be more than covering our backs it has to be about raising standards across the industry or we're missing the point."
Chris Chidley, chief executive, Driver Hire Many companies talk about health and safety and best practice and then choose an agency based or cost alone. Quality does make a difference and that's what we sell on. We're constantly trying to educate operators and talk to HR people etc about this.
It's important that as an end user you don't trade with people who put you at risk of non-compliance. There's a difference between agencies in this industry and those differences matter. And that's my sales pitch.
There are clients who have drivers sign waivers and such, but to be honest if you choose the right agency you don't need to worry about compliance.
"We would welcome seeing Vosa come into agencies more, checking for compliance. There's all the necessary legislation in place to ensure we all comply with drivers' hours rules etc the only problem is Vosa is under-resourced.
Having government regulate our industry is much better than an initiative like Start. I don't need its accreditation because we are already the best.