MANAGING risk in preparation for a potential “next Covid-level event” is to become an essential part of fleet management in the future.

An Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) webinar –  Back to Normal? A Post Covid-19 Landscape for Fleet Operators – heard that having formal documents covering this kind of eventuality were likely to soon become a prerequisite for winning new business.

Duncan Webb, head of fleet at ISS, said: “Potential customers will probably want to see assessments of what would happen to your fleet supply chain as part of tender documents before they commit to working with you.

“Making sure that risks are better understood and managed, as well as how they would be handled in the event that anything like this happens again in the future, is going to be an ongoing part of vehicle management.”

He also explained how he was approaching his fleet following the pandemic, with a host of strategic changes underway.

“During lockdown, we saw a one-third reduction in accidents and we want that to continue, so we now have a plan of activity designed to achieve that objective, getting people back to work safely from the point of view of both driver and vehicle.

“Also, we don’t want to return to the kind of overall mileages that we were seeing pre-Covid and we are looking to technology to help us do that, especially through the integration of fleet and travel functions. People will simply move around less in the future.”

Webb also added that the effects of the pandemic had not yet been fully realised by fleets. “We are going to be living with Covid for a while yet. Personally, I think the direct effects on how fleets are operated will last at least another 12 months, with the impact working its way through the industry.”

Shaun Atton, head of fleet and facilities at Autowindscreens also spoke about how the pandemic had affected his fleet. “As an event, Covid has really revealed the importance of a well-managed fleet and continues to do so, especially as we look forward to the post-pandemic period.

“There have been many issues to consider. For example, because so many of our vans were sitting unused during lockdown, we had a lot of unused mileage on our contracts. As a result, we’ve extended our lease cycle from three to four years, creating the opportunity to use all of our contracted mileage and make significant savings.

“However, we have reinvested that saving into the fleet with a range of new measures including installing rear view cameras, upgrading our telematics and more.”

Paul Hollick, chair at the AFP, said that the webinar had been designed to help fleet managers handle conditions arising in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The coronavirus crisis has changed, probably forever, the backdrop against which fleet managers operate and this session identified those fundamentals and discussed strategies that should deliver results in the future.”