With research showing business drivers to have collision rates 30-40 per cent higher than private drivers, employers should focus more on work-related road risk
 Driving is the most dangerous activity that most of us do in the course of our working lives. It has been estimated that up to a third of the accidents which happen on Britain’s roads involve somebody who is at work at the time. This means that every week, up to 200 road deaths and serious injuries involve someone driving, riding or otherwise using the road for work purposes.
Feeling the pressure
‘At-work’ drivers can face vastly different pressures to those they experience when they are behind the wheel in their own time. They can be required to drive thousands of business miles a year, to new locations, often at peak times and in unfamiliar vehicles, against deadlines, possibly under pressure to answer work-related phone calls, and while dividing their attention between the task of driving and thoughts related to a forthcoming meeting or delivery.
It appears that such pressures are impacting negatively on safety, with research cited by the Department for Transport (DfT) showing that business drivers have collision rates which are 30-40 per cent higher than those of private drivers.
It is clear, therefore, that work-related road risk is both a major road safety and occupational safety issue. And it is an issue that does not only affect vocational drivers – people whose job is driving – but also the vast range of workers who cannot do their job without travelling on the road at some point, including delivery people, managers who have to drive to meetings or between sites and sales representatives.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has led the way in campaigning for employers and regulators to address work-related road risk as a mainstream health and safety issue.
Since the inception of its managing occupational road risk (MORR) campaign in 1996, the safety charity has developed links with a wide range of businesses and organisations. In fact, there are now more than 100 organisations in the Occupational Road Safety Alliance (see www.orsa.org.uk). In Scotland, a new website for the Scottish Occupational Road Safety Alliance (www.scorsa.org.uk) was launched in September 2009.
A recent development in the MORR arena has been the growing focus on the links between safe and fuel-efficient/environmentally-friendly driving. In times of rising fuel prices and greater environmental awareness, attention is turning towards eco-driving techniques which can save an organisation money, enhance its green credentials and promote safety.
Why manage road risk?
It is impossible to deny the ethical reasons for taking work-related road risk seriously. The potential for pain and suffering caused by at-work road accidents is huge, with effects for the individual employee, his or her family and also for wider society in terms of the burden placed on the health service and other caring professions. Fatal and other serious accidents at work – whatever the cause – can also hit workforce morale.There are also significant legal prompts.
Guidance issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and DfT in Driving at Work: Managing Occupational Road Safety (INDG382, published in 2003), clearly states that health and safety law applies to on-the-road work activities as to all work activities.
This means that employers must manage risks on the road within the framework they should already have in place for dealing with other aspects of health and safety. The general duties laid out by the Health and Safety at Work Act mean they must assess the risks and put in place all “reasonably practicable” measures to manage those risks. There are no specific health and safety regulations covering this issue, but ignoring occupational road risk is not an option.
The police look at work-related factors when road crashes are investigated and action has been taken against employers including after crashes which could be linked back to drivers spending excessively long hours at the wheel.
There are also specific regulations, such as drivers’ hours rules, new Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) requirements for bus, coach and lorry drivers, plus general road traffic laws with which employers need to comply. An individual, for example, could be prosecuted for aiding and abetting the use of a hand-held mobile phone while an employee is driving.
Good business case
Finally, there is also a very strong business case for taking work-related road safety seriously. This has clear overlaps with the ethical and legal justifications for action, but it is also underpinned by some other potential cost-saving benefits.
The ‘iceberg theory’ of accidents, for example, is often used to describe how an accident can impact on a business. It outlines the small number of clearly-visible, and usually insured-against, expenses, such as physical damage, and the many more hidden costs which are usually uninsured, including sick pay, fines, legal costs, time spent on investigations, loss of reputation (particularly when liveried vehicles are involved) etc. HSE research suggests that for every £1 recovered through insurance at least £8 – or possibly as much as £36 – is lost in these uninsured costs.
Research such as this means addressing road safety makes good business sense.
And in a time of financial belt-tightening, it is important to state clearly that the business case for preventing accidents is actually stronger during a recession. When sales and turnover reduce, cutting the costs associated with easily-avoidable accidents becomes an increasingly crucial way to defend the bottom line.
Acting on MORR
Essentially, employers must conduct suitable risk assessments and put in place all ‘reasonably practicable’ measures to ensure that:
- work-related journeys are safe
- staff are fit and competent to drive safely
- vehicles used are fit-for-purpose and in a safe condition.
In controlling the risk of work-related road accidents, organisations can introduce a range of practical and cost-effective control measures such as: exploring safer alternatives to road travel, for example, taking the train or video-conferencing; specifying safest routes; insisting on compliance with speed limits; setting standards for safe schedules, journey times and distance limits; specifying the use of vehicles with additional safety features; ensuring safe maintenance; and, ensuring drivers are fit to do the task, which includes driver selection procedures, assessment, training and continual development.
But MORR is not about one-off, detached interventions. Instead, it is focused on developing a system (policies, people and procedures) to deliver sustainable and measurable benefits. It must be led from the top by senior managers and involve effective workforce participation and consultation with employee representatives. Line managers too have a key role to play in ensuring that staff are not put at risk and that they drive safely.
Driver development
Changing the attitude and behaviour of road users is an important step towards reducing the number of accidents.
Therefore, driver development is a key part of an organisation’s system to manage work-related road risk.
It can help reduce the risks an employee faces and creates, especially when it focuses on the specific challenges associated with driving for work. Reflecting these challenges is crucial because, as the results of a major study published by RoSPA earlier this year showed, many employers do not think the current learner driver training and testing process is adequate preparation for at-work driving.
RoSPA advocates that driver development should aim to generate a level of self-awareness in drivers so they take responsibility for what they do.
A risk assessment is the first step. Many organisations use psychometric profiling software, such as RoSPA’s Driver Profiler, for their assessments, the aim being to identify which drivers need help first (thereby prioritising training needs and limited budgets) and establishing which interventions are most appropriate for individual drivers. The results of an assessment might point to an “e-learning” (interactive online training) session, a theory workshop or something as simple as distributing copies of the revised Highway Code and encouraging a driver to read it.
Of course, the results might suggest that a driver would benefit from in-car training.
Key objectives of training should be to enable drivers to recognise where they are vulnerable and introduce simple strategies to help them manage risks. The overarching aims should be to help drivers avoid causing crashes and avoid the crashes that others cause. Some training also focuses on eco-friendly and economic driving, such as courses promoted through the government’s SAFED (Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving) programme.
In closing
When an intervention such as driver development is part of an organisation’s overarching MORR system (which should also include policies on journey planning, vehicle selection and maintenance, accident investigation, the use of mobile phones and other in-car devices, etc), that organisation is well on its way to seeing the sustainable and measurable benefits that come from taking road safety seriously.
Besides helping to reduce risks to employees while they are at work, road safety programmes in the workplace also mean employers can make a valuable contribution towards helping their staff stay safe when they are away from work.
Plenty of help and information on developing a system for managing road risk is available from organisations such as RoSPA, ORSA, ScORSA the HSE and the DfT.
At first glance, managing occupational road risk might seem like a daunting task. But many organisations are successfully addressing the issue without it being over-burdensome, and service providers are generally happy to help meet the specific requirements of individual firms.
For more information
www.rospa.com/drivertraining/
www.rospa.com/roadsafety/resources/employers.htm (a series of free Driving for Work employers’ guides and a film is available here)
www.orsa.org.uk
www.scorsa.org.uk |
