Train to protect your O-licence
Training is one of the essential keys to safeguarding operator licences, and therefore your business, says Su Winch, managing director of transport training provider Novadata
Losing your O-licence and, therefore, your reputation, can result in total business failure; yet we still encounter far too many companies who don’t place enough emphasis on staying up to date with industry best practice, the constantly evolving legal framework and their legal responsibilities.
Those legal responsibilities are often deputised to a transport manager, but directors of a company should at least be aware of what it takes to fulfil their O-licence undertakings – and that requires committing some time every few years to some training.
Transport managers, even if it is their full-time job, cannot be expected to stay up to date with every minor change in the law, which is why the UK traffic commissioners now place much emphasis on saying that they want to see holders of the Transport Manager CPC qualification undergo regular refresher training every few years.
Also in their line of sight are company directors, who sign the application for an O-licence, but will almost certainly have other, more wide-reaching duties.
They still have a binding legal duty to ensure that their undertakings are being fulfilled, so traffic commissioners also strongly advise that O-licence holders who don’t require a Management CPC qualification – either because they hold a restricted O-licence or they have a dedicated transport manager who does have the qualification – should also undergo OLAT (operator licence awareness training) from time to time.
It is a company director who signs the O-licence application. In doing so, they make themselves legally liable to comply with transport legislation on behalf of their entire organisation.
Unfortunately, all too often, once it has been obtained, the O-licence is either left to a transport manager to govern, or is simply not thought about at all. But that legal responsibility stays with the director.
This ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude to the O-licence is a recipe for disaster. The O-licence should be an item on each board meeting agenda, and the organisation’s compliance with undertakings should be reviewed regularly at senior level. Those are further recommendations from the traffic commissioners.
Like the traffic commissioners, we recommend that directors attend either a Management CPC refresher or OLAT course every few years to ensure that they know the steps that must be taken to fulfil O-licence undertakings. It is easier than you think to fall foul of the rules.
An O-licence can be lost through the simplest of failures, such as failing to report basic changes to the traffic commissioners. If a director resigns or retires, or you move industrial unit within the same estate, notifying the traffic commissioner should be part of your management process. Failing to do so is a breach of your undertakings.
Even if they delegate day-to-day management to a qualified transport manager, a director whose name is on the O-licence should know how to maintain a healthy compliance score. If they don’t, they should make time in their schedule to receive some training.
Just as important is ensuring that all your drivers who are required to hold a driver qualification card (DQC) complete 35 hours of periodic Driver CPC training, every five years, so that they are legally entitled to drive. We now offer a Driver CPC Driver’s Understanding of an O-licence course to ensure they grasp the importance of their actions in fulfilling O-licence undertakings.
Driver CPC training can be invaluable for compliance, as it can cover critical issues such as the correct use of digital tachographs and accurate record keeping. This is one of the most common areas in which O-licence holders fail to comply with their undertakings.
For example, we still find far too many drivers failing to make accurate manual entries or neglecting to switch to other work while doing the daily vehicle walkaround check. Or they may fail to keep robust records, or be blissfully unaware of download deadlines.
If we can identify these non-compliance issues, you can be sure that a traffic commissioner or law enforcement official will also spot them, should you be inspected.
If your drivers are required to drive in predominantly urban areas, they can also benefit from attending FORS driver training courses, which can also count towards their Driver CPC training and which help you to gain and maintain FORS accreditation.
If your organisation regularly transports goods that are classified as dangerous, your drivers will need to hold an ADR qualification. Unlike the Transport Manager CPC qualification, this is not a one-off; it must be renewed every five years.
Making time for regular training can be a challenge, but it’s certainly a lot easier and less stressful than facing a public inquiry or explaining to a traffic commissioner why you have failed to fulfil your O-licence undertakings.
If you do come to the attention of the traffic commissioner for all the wrong reasons, one of the first measures that they will employ is to order you to attend an OLAT or Management CPC refresher course immediately.
It makes far better business sense to schedule these training courses at a time that suits you, rather than wait to be made to do this at a time when you are likely to be managing a crisis – probably the threat of losing your O-licence.
In short, you should ensure that everyone on whom your compliance with your undertakings relies receives training on a regular basis, to ensure that he or she is up to date with the current transport legal framework and industry best practice. Ultimately, your business may depend on it.
