The driver recruitment process is an important aspect of the overall fleet risk management programme. There is no exact science to finding a new employee who has appropriate driving competence. The nature of your business will dictate what form your driver recruitment takes but this section gives suggestions on some of the steps your recruitment process could involve.

Drivers will vary in their ability to drive safely, and despite rigorous pre –recruitment processes it is difficult to judge this ability until a driver is employed and out on the road. The challenge for the manager of any vehicle fleet is how to supervise their drivers as most driving is carried out when a driver is alone in their vehicle, so it is vital to recruit the right person to join your company using a thorough assessment process.

This form is designed to be used in an interview for an employee who will drive for your organisation. It gives useful reminders on key questions to be asked.

Deciding on the level of driving risk associated with a potential recruit can help you decide the best approach to providing a suitable induction training process. This matrix tool is one example of how you can consider a range of factors and arrive on notional risk category for a potential new recruit.

Every employee who drives on your behalf should be fit to do so. This form allows a testimony as to fitness to drive to be given by your employee.

As a client of The Fleet Safety Academy, you can benefit from using Driver Checks driver licence checking service.

Carry out driver licence checks against the DVLA database with ease

across all drivers and access a handy dashboard system to help manage the licence check results.

New features include:

Online electronic consent with immediate licence check

Real time live checking

Monitor at risk drivers with alerts being prompted to your inbox

This template provides a comprehensive assessment tool that can be used to conduct your annual driver assessments or as part of the final recruitment process for new drivers prior to offer of employment.

It is important that careful planning and consideration is put into driver recruitment to ensure the most suitable candidates are chosen. The induction process of any new driver should be informative and welcoming in order that a good first impression and start are made, which set the basis for productivity and long term driver retention.

Induction training is an important opportunity to share key information with your new drivers at the point at which they join your company, and before they start taking your vehicles out on the road. Businesses will often have an induction training process but the training rarely covers all the key risk management issues that a driver should understand from when they commence employment. The template form provided for your use here provides guidance on the type of information you should be providing in your driver induction training session. The list is by no means exhaustive and there will be other pieces of training content that you will need to communicate to your drivers.

Many organisations introduce a probation period that allows for a range of operational issues to be reviewed but driving is rarely included in this process. This form provides a template for a probation meeting where driving competence is included in the assessment of the individual at the end of their probation period.