xCenta Solutions sees a dangerous trend emerging

Issued to Automotive Media

With automotive sales continuing to fall, dealerships are understandably looking at ways to cut costs. Automotive health and safety professionals warn that the recession could cause the automotive sector to compromise on its health and safety provision.

“Today’s marketplace is obviously tough for automotive retailers, however this isn’t an excuse to neglect legal obligations. Health and safety is a prime concern for those operating in this sector – which has seen 24 deaths in the last five years – and it should not form an area for budget cuts,” said Peter Purdom, director of automotive health and safety specialist, xCenta Solutions.

The warning comes just three months after new health and safety legislation came into force. And as a result of such cut backs, retailers could be putting themselves at much greater financial risk in the long term, as Peter Purdom, explains:

“By not ensuring health and safety compliance and keeping up to date with risk assessments and inspections, there is greater potential of accidents happening. A non-committal approach from the very top of the business encourages a similar ethos all the way down to the guys on the workshop floor. If there’s an accident due to negligence, or lack of training, ultimately it’s the business owner at fault and the new regulations show little mercy to those found guilty.”

The Health and Safety (offences) Act 2008, which came into force in January 2009, means that fines are raised to a maximum of £20,000 in lower courts or unlimited levels in high courts and broadens the range of offences that could lead to imprisonment.

“Devaluing health and safety has potentially serious consequences both for companies and individuals and, at a more mundane level, a poor health and safety record will have a dramatic effect on insurance premiums” adds Peter.

In light of current turmoil in the automotive sector, xCenta Solutions, which provides an online health and safety management system, is waiving the licence fee for its online management tool.

“We recognise that parts of the industry are in crisis and we want to do what we can to make sure that health and safety continues to be a top consideration. All of us at xCenta have worked in the industry for many years and have seen for ourselves the results of bad health and safety management. We don’t want to see automotive retailers compromising on such an important issue for the cost of an investment that can equate to the daily cost of a mere broadsheet newspaper,” Peter concludes.  

Find out more about xCenta Solutions at www.xcenta.co.uk

Notes to editors:

• xCenta provides internet-based health and safety solutions to the retail automotive sector
• The web-hosted system provides step by step guide to health and safety in an automotive environment including prepared risk assessments, audits, statutory documents and action tracker to ensure actions are completed
• The xCenta health and safety management system is used at around 270 dealerships throughout the UK

Back to Press Releases