Up to a third of all road collisions involve drivers who are using
their vehicle for work, delegates at the International Conference on
Road Safety at Work heard yesterday (Monday).
Hosted at Dublin Castle, by the Irish Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the Road Safety Authority (RSA), the conference saw the launch of the two bodies’ joint Driving for Work Guidelines, available free of charge, in CD format.
The guidelines provide an overview of driving legislation, how to carry out risk assessments, and underline the benefits to business and the wider community of effective occupational road-safety management.
RSA chief executive, Noel Brett, said: “Managing staff safety, while driving for work, makes good business sense, especially in the current economic climate, as it protects staff and business profits. For example, for every €1 claimed on insurance arising from work-related road incidents, companies may have to pay a further €8 -€36 for uninsured losses.”
According to the HSA, vehicles are the biggest cause of work-related deaths and a significant contributor to work-related injuries. Studies show that people who drive company cars have between 30 and 40 per cent more collisions than ordinary drivers, and this risk increases for those who drive more than 40,000km a year.
Commented the HSA’s CEO, Martin O’Halloran: “All employers are required by health and safety laws to put proper measures in place to protect the safety of all their employees. Particularly concerning is that 42 per cent of Irish businesses have no driving-for-work policy as part of their health and safety management system. A 2008 HSA survey of businesses also found that there was a lack of awareness of their duties to manage work-related driving activities.”
For more information on the International Conference on Road Safety at Work, visit www.rsa.ie or www.hsa.ie
This eBook will guide you through some of the key understandings you need to be able to manage driver safety effectively and, at the end, provide a series of free resources you can access to help you ensure your own driver safety management system is robust, legally compliant and in line with industry-accepted good practice.
Download this eBook from Driving for Better Business and SHP to cover:
- Why do we need to manage driver safety?
- Duty of care – a shared responsibility;
- Setting the rules with a driving for work policy;
- Managing driver safety;
- Ensuring safe vehicles;
- Safe journeys and fitness to drive;
- Record keeping;
- Reporting;
- The business benefits of good practice;
- Additional resources
