Brake offers crisis management training for fleet professionals with Alphabet

Road safety charity Brake is inviting those responsible for at-work drivers including fleet managers, health and safety managers and HR professionals to attend an essential seminar on crisis management training. The one-day seminar for fleet professionals or those who hold a fleet responsibility is sponsored by Alphabet GB Limited and takes place on Wednesday 04 December in central Manchester.

The seminar will be delivered as part of the Global Fleet Champions campaign Brake’s brand new not-for-profit global campaign to prevent crashes and improve air quality resulting from vehicles used for work or business purposes. Global Fleet Champions is free and shares training, tools and guidance on global fleet safety best practice with its members, as well as networking and development opportunities. Find out more about Global Fleet Champions.

Driving can be one of the most dangerous activities employees undertake while ‘at work’. The impact of a fatal or serious road crash involving a fleet vehicle upon an organisation, individual employees and the victims cannot be understated. Mismanagement of the aftermath by an organisation can cause a huge amount of trauma and damage to victims, employees and the organisation itself. It is crucial that employers are prepared for all scenarios and are aware of the need to respond to these incidents in an effective, timely and compassionate manner. Effective crisis management and the preparations required ahead of time for all eventualities is a vital means of managing and minimising your risks.

This free, one day training course for Fleet and HR personnel looks at the procedures and policies an organisation should have in place to provide appropriate support following a road crash or other sudden, violent vehicle-related event. 

The training covers:

• practical and procedural issues following a sudden death or serious injury;
• possible commercial and legal implications for your organisation;
• how to look after the welfare of all those involved in and affected by the incident;
• the roles and responsibilities of professionals who work with bereaved and injured people;
• what you can do to support affected personnel, and the limitations of your support;
• what you should communicate to other members of staff; and
• how to create a crisis response team.

The seminar will take place at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday 4 December 2019. Find out more and book your place here.  

Sarah Plumb, senior fleet officer at Brake said: “Brake’s Global Fleet Champions campaign aims to prevent road crashes by sharing best practice and guidance with those responsible for at-work drivers across the world. However, it is also incredibly important for employers to be prepared for the worst and to ensure they have robust policies and procedures in place to support their employees, should one of them be involved in a crash. I would urge all executive managers, HR professionals and fleet management personnel to attend this free course delivered by industry experts so they can prepare their organisation to support all those affected, should the worst happen.”

David Jones, Communications Manager at Alphabet (GB) Limited said: “Helping to ensure employee and public safety, as well as managing your company’s reputational risks, are the concerns which keep today’s fleet professionals up at night. However well-informed you might think you are, it’s a rapidly changing area with new requirements and legislation - so it’s vitally important to stay up–to-date.

Which is why Alphabet are pleased to partner with road safety charity Brake in order to provide a one day course on Crisis Management best practices free of charge to fleet professionals. By raising awareness of organisational responsibilities for those managing fleets and ‘at work drivers’, as well as sharing practical examples and insight from experts, we’re helping individuals and businesses understand their duty of care obligations. Companies and organisations can never completely eliminate risk, but by preparing for it and making sure you have robust, developed procedures in place you can minimise the risk and ensure that should the worst happen your business responds in the correct way.”

About Brake

Brake is a registered charity campaigning for road safety and sustainable transport and helping victims of road crashes. We work to inspire, inform, engage and enable action for change to achieve Vision Zero.

We have head offices in the UK and New Zealand to enable us to span time zones and communicate and work globally, particularly digitally, through webinars, online tools, and other smart solutions. We also have domestic operations in those countries (we have been working in the UK for more than 20 years) and have contacts and connections around the globe, including in low- and middle-income countries, to inform our work and get action.

Our work is grassroots and partnership-oriented. We believe in working together to save lives and the planet and support the victims of crashes. We work with communities, corporations, other NGOs, enforcement agencies and government representatives. 

Brake, as a leading NGO, has more than 20-years’ experience of calling for, and promoting, ‘occupational road risk management’ at organisational and government level in the UK and latterly also in Australasia. We maintain and partner with an ever-growing membership network of occupational road risk managers and practitioners. We disseminate best practice occupational road risk management techniques through webinars and online guidance, and celebrate these techniques with awards.

Road crashes are not accidents; they are devastating and preventable events, not chance mishaps. Calling them accidents undermines work to make roads safer and can cause insult to families whose lives have been torn apart by needless casualties.

About Global Fleet Champions

Global Fleet Champions is a not-for-profit global campaign to prevent crashes and reduce pollution caused by vehicles used for work purposes.

Global Fleet Champions calls on all organisations that employ people who drive for work to prioritise safety and sustainability of movement, through good leadership and robust policies and procedures. The campaign also calls on governments to regulate and enforce the safe, sustainable operation of vehicles that move goods and people, through licensing and traffic rules, road policing and tougher penalties.