Hitachi Capital urge businesses to get hands on for staff safety
Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions has held its second health check day, designed to highlight the importance of regular vehicle safety checks as part of the company’s own rigorous duty of care policy, and is urging businesses to follow its lead in its hands on approach to duty of care requirements.
The main problem areas this recent health check day highlighted were damaged windscreens, with 27 per cent of the vehicles registering with this fault, while over a third of those checked had low levels of washer fluid. The day was an opportunity to highlight legal obligations to drivers, for example many do not realise that driving without washer fluid is an offense.
The day also highlighted that improvements had been made with regards to Hitachi Capital’s grey fleet, with the previous vehicle health check day finding 88 per cent of grey fleet vehicles needed attention of some kind.
“Like any company, we have a legal responsibility to the safety of our staff and we take this very seriously. As such we have a rigorous duty of care policy in place, which involves the annual staff vehicle health check days. Through these events we want to set the benchmark for what other companies should be doing, and lead by example,” explains Simon Oliphant, Chief Executive at Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions.
Oliphant continues: “It is easy for companies to forget their responsibility with regards to ensuring the safety of the vehicles which their staff use for business purposes. But, with corporate manslaughter fines starting at £100,000 for safety breaches, and the obvious human cost, it should not be ignored”
Hitachi Capital is encouraging companies to organise their own annual car check day to ensure that they are meeting their duty of care responsibility and encouraging staff to carry out regular basic checks of fluid levels, lights, wipers, tyres and glass.
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