Lothian and Borders awarded for safe fleet

Lothian and Borders Police received recognition for work in reducing risk to employees associated with its fleet of more than 500 vehicles. The force was awarded first place in the Risk Management Award category of the GreenFleet Awards at a ceremony held in London last week, beating off competition from both the private and public sector.

Whilst the number of vehicles in the fleet has increased over the past three years the number of accidents has fallen as has the costs incurred for repairing vehicles. In 2004/05 the number of vehicles in the fleet was 500. The number of accidents was 145 with the cost incurred for damages, £216,007.

Relative figures for 2005/06 show further reductions from 572 vehicles, 113 accidents and costs of £153,721.

Dignan McCulloch, Fleet Manager with Lothian and Borders Police, said: “The force introduced risk management into its business planning cycle in time for the new millennium and it was soon identified that the fleet was an area where we needed to reduce risk exposure.

“We set about achieving this by putting in place initiatives to reduce accident damage, including driver training, redesign of car parks, devolved accountability and accident investigation boards.”

Other areas put forward in the submission included the use of LPG-powered vehicles in Edinburgh city centre and reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by 23 tonnes every year.

Praising the force on its award, a spokesman for GreenFleet awards, said: “Lothian and Borders Police have demonstrated the benefits that effective risk management can have on elements of the public purse expenditure and the environment.”