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The advice is contained in Driving at work: Managing Work-Related Road Safety, which outlines the issues companies must take into account to put their at-work driving health and safety responsibilities in order. The HSE says the checklist, while by no means exhaustive, will enable companies to evaluate whether or not they are managing work-related road safety effectively and to implement best practice procedures (see box 1). The guide has been published against a background of imminent “corporate killing” legislation proposals that are expected to target rogue businesses and company bosses who fail to manage at-work driving risks within a health and safety management system.
The guide highlights a company’s legal responsibilities, the benefits of managing work-related road safety, how to manage work-related road safety, how to assess road risks and how to evaluate those risks. Road Safety Minister David Jamieson says: “I hope all employers will follow the simple guidance it contains to help our efforts to reduce road traffic casualties.” And Bill Callaghan, chairman of the Health and Safety Commission, says: “This is a valuable document that alerts employers to their responsibilities for managing the health and safety of their employees when driving at work. “The effective management of work-related road safety will help reduce the risk to their employees and to other road users, including pedestrians.” Government figures reveal that last year 302,590 people were killed or injured in road accidents on Britain’s roads, with estimates suggesting that around a third of casualties were at-work drivers. That means there were more than 1,000 fatalities and almost 100,000 injury-only accidents involving at-work drivers. In addition, it is claimed that British business is losing up to £2.7bn a year as a consequence of at-work road traffic accidents and that society is paying a further £1bn as a result of the 100,000 road accidents a year involving staff driving on company business. Publication of the guide comes almost two years after the Government and Health and Safety Commissionsponsored Work-Related Road Safety Task Group’s report into at-work road safety. Its report contained 18 recommendations, including the publication of generic guidance for employers on how to manage at-work road safety. In publishing the guide, the HSE says: “Some employers believe, incorrectly, that provided they comply with certain road traffic law requirements, for example, company vehicles have a valid MoT certificate, and that drivers hold a valid licence, this is enough to ensure the safety of their employees – and others – when they are on the road.
The guide not only highlights the legal and the moral argument for companies to adopt an at-work driving safety culture, it also outlines the financial argument (see box 2). The Health and Safety Commission has calculated that for every £1 recoverable from insurance, between £8 and £36 maybe lost to the company in uninsured costs. In fact many costs may not be quantifiable (see box 3). The guide urges all companies to appoint “a competent person with a practical knowledge of the work activities being assessed” to carry out a risk assessment of the employees risks faced on the road, and says there must be “a top-level commitment” to work-related road safety. Crucially, the guide also highlights the importance of companies making sure that they include privately-owned vehicles driven on company business within their risk assessment procedures. Many companies believe, wrongly, that replacing company cars with car-for-car alternatives such as employee car ownership schemes or personal contract purchase scheme removes their duty of care obligations. Copies of the HSE guide Driving at work: Managing Work-Related Road Safety is available from the HSE website on www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf or by telephoning 01787-881165. The RoadSafe View
“Company leaders must do their bit. There is irrefutable evidence that fleets that have implemented comprehensive at-work driving risk management strategies benefit not only financially, but in terms of being viewed by their staff and customers as caring companies. “It is equally very clear that companies that fail to implement any measures and ignore the wealth of advice and information available will face the full weight of the law in the event of one of their employees being involved in an accident while making a business-related journey. The guide provides useful ammunition to prosecute employers who fail to display a commitment to the health and safety of at-work drivers.” However, says Mr Walsh: “Company directors need clear guidance on how to implement measures to reduce the risk to their employees. They need to understand their legal responsibilities and to implement practices which make their companies safer, more efficient and more profitable.”
While each member of the organisation commented individually, it was, says Mr Walsh, felt very strongly that fleet managers and health and safety professionals were already aware of the issues, but their demands for at-work driving risk management strategies were often being rebuffed by boards of directors. “It is for that reason that the guidance needs to be targeted at company bosses. It is the top decision-makers in companies who must understand the issues and sanction the implementation of strategies. Directors need to fully understand that they can profit from safety, but a failure to do so means they will carry the can.” ORSA brings together employers, trade unions, local authorities, police forces, safety organisations, road safety professional and trade associations. It believes that employers should manage at-work road risk within the framework that they should already have in place for managing all other occupational health and safety risks.
• Gathering and analysing key safety and risk data on their vehicles, journeys, drivers, crashes, causes and costs • Setting and communicating clear corporate road safety objectives • Ensuring everyone understands their role in achieving them • Introducing targeted safety measures based on suitable risk assessment (backed by standards, targets and timescales) • Monitoring performance and learning from accidents and incidents • Carrying out periodic performance reviews in order to feed back lessons learned. Companies should, say experts, commit themselves to achieving a cycle of continuous improvement in road safety performance, ensuring that this approach is underpinned by a proactive, positive road safety culture led by all senior managers, with full workforce consultation and participation. Details of ORSA are available by accessing www.orsa.org.uk RoadSafe has already issued considerable guidance to companies. This can be found on their website: www.roadsafe.com |
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