Measuring fleet safety performance and development of a fleet safety management audit tool

Work-related vehicle crashes are a common cause of fatal occupational injury in Australia. There is considerable knowledge about risk factors for vehicle crashes and some of these factors are amenable to control by employers. However, there are few studies that have investigated management practices used for light vehicle fleets (i.e. cars and vans less than 4.5 tonnes). One of the impediments to obtaining and sharing information on effective fleet safety management is the lack of an evidence-based, standardized measurement tool for light vehicle fleet safety that would allow organisations to consistently benchmark their performance against best practice. The fleet safety management audit tool was developed by triangulating information from the published literature on fleet safety management practices, conducting semi-structured interviews with fleet managers and fleet drivers regarding fleet safety management practices, and useability testing. The audit tool assesses the management of fleet safety against five core categories that were identified from the literature and interviews as being associated with fleet safety. These include: (1) management, systems and processes; (2) monitoring and assessment; (3) employee recruitment, training and education; (4) vehicle technology, selection and maintenance; and (5) vehicle journeys. The fleet safety audit tool is designed to identify the extent to which fleet safety is managed in an organisation. The audit tool can be used to conduct audits within an organisation to provide an indicator of progress in managing fleet safety and it can be used to benchmark performance with other organisations.