New online course for people who manage driver risk

Known for its on-road driver training courses and other training solutions aimed at business drivers themselves, IAM RoadSmart is now offering a course for the people who have a responsibility for managing work-related road safety.

The online workshop-style course, entitled ‘The Manager’s Guide to the Risks and Responsibilities of Driving for Work’, provides guidance on creating a company driver policy that ensures compliance with the applicable laws and HSE advice, and on ways to build an effective safety culture around business driving. 

Jason Kaye, national account manager at IAM RoadSmart, explains how the course was created to address the knowledge gaps experienced by managers. “We often receive enquiries from companies asking us about the laws on workplace road safety, or about which HSE guidelines they need to follow to be compliant with the law, and there seem to be a lot of managers out there who have been tasked with creating a policy on fleet safety but don’t necessarily know where to start”, says Jason. “So, they need to establish that policy before any practical action is taken on risk assessments or driver training”. 

“We know from speaking to a lot of health and safety managers that it’s often up to them to convince other stakeholders and departments to take action, which is why we’ve created this course to cover the information that they’ll need within their remit, but also to touch on the areas that will be relevant to finance, fleet management or HR to let them know what they need to do to support a driver risk management strategy and to make it effective”.

The course is available in two formats. It can be booked by a single business for up to twelve of its own employees, or there are now prescheduled courses that anyone can join individually, by purchasing a ticket online. The workshop lasts for 3.5 hours and is attended via Zoom.

Helen Doran, IAM RoadSmart’s head of product development provides some detail on the format. “You can book the Manager’s Guide workshop as an exclusive session for up to 12 of your own staff, which will work well for larger businesses where there are multiple people involved in establishing a driver training programme. We’ve also started offering pre-scheduled session where you can purchase an individual seat; that way we can accommodate people from any company, even those where health and safety policy or driver training is the responsibility of just one individual”.

The first of these scheduled courses takes place on Thursday 24 April.

For more information or to book a place, visit www.iamcommercial.co.uk/managers-guide-workshop/