Fire services join fight for risk awareness
Fire services across the country have joined forces with the Highways Agency to raise awareness in the business community of the importance of managing occupational road risk...
All too often those bunches of flowers tied to railings, are the symbols that convey the blight that unsafe roads, unsafe drivers and unsafe vehicles have on the lives of the victim’s families
With more than 3,000 people killed on Britain’s roads annually – six times more than the number of people killed in fires – employees are more likely to die on the road while driving than in a blaze at their place of work.
Historically the Highways Agency, which is responsible for managing, maintaining and improving England’s motorways and trunk roads, has focused on providing engineering solutions at crash blackspots.
However, as part of its remit from Government to reduce road casualties, the Agency has now launched a series of ‘Driver Information Programmes’ to raise awareness and educate people about road safety.
Initiative
The programmes include a ‘Driving on Business’ initiative, which, through a series of commercials, highlight employer and employee responsibilities whilst driving on business.
The foot-in-thedoor programme, which Agency partners can use to start discussion within companies on managing occupational road risk, uses actor Ralph Ineson to light-heartedly focus on at-work driver safety. Topics covered on a DVD – posters are also available – include: corporate manslaughter, travel planning, car safety checks and employee licence checks, speeding, eco-driving and how businesses can save money.
The ‘Driving on Business’ programme is part of a detailed ‘toolkit’ compiled by the Agency.
Statistically drivers on business are one of four groups of people who are most at risk on the road network.
Other initiatives in the ‘Driver Information Programmes’ are aimed at the three other ‘at risk’ groups – HGV drivers, motorbike riders and young drivers.
"Businesses need to understand that their staff are far more likely to be killed or injured in a road traffic accident than they are in a fire at their place of work"
The Agency believes that the programme can influence behaviour change in these target groups of road users which will ultimately help to reduce accidents, injuries and deaths on the strategic road network.
Agency data reveals that up to 25% of delays on the strategic road network is due to accidents and unplanned incidents. As a result, reducing accidents and the disruption they cause, and helping drivers to avoid delays when they occur, will have a major impact on journey reliability as congestion caused by crashes will be cut, as well as preventing injuries and saving lives.
The raft of information compiled by the Agency is now being used by numerous ‘partners’ including the Chief Fire Officers Association, local authorities and road safety offi cers as well as businesses.
Stuart Lovatt, the Agency’s safety action plan co-ordinator, said: “The whole concept of the ‘toolkit’ is to provide support to local casualty reduction partners, which include the fire service, police, courts and local authorities. They can use this information and distribute it to organisations in their locality to raise awareness of issues surrounding the dangers of at-work driving and how safety can be improved.”
Fire officers throughout the UK attend road traffic accidents every day of the year and the Fire and Rescue Service, like the Agency, has a mandate to become far more involved in road casualty reduction.
Mr Lovatt, a member of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association road safety group, said: “There are 55,000 fire officers across the UK and every day they are out in the community inspecting business premises. They now have access to a ‘toolkit’ that provides a raft of information that they can help disseminate to organisations.
“When visiting business premises they are talking to people who infl uence at-work driving – company directors, personnel managers and fleet managers – as well as talking about fire prevention, fire officers can now talk knowledgeably about managing occupational road risk and how businesses can reduce their exposure to that risk.
“Businesses need to understand that their staff are far more likely to be killed or injured in a road traffi c accident than they are in a fire at their place of work. Fire inspections are about reducing risk to the business and the focus on managing occupational road risk is an extension of that work.”
John Doyle, chairman of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association road safety group, said: “The Fire and Rescue Service has a crucial part to play in reducing the loss of life on our roads.
Extricate
“All too often fire crews try desperately to extricate seriously injured drivers and passengers from mangled metal. Just as they did many years ago with community fire safety, these crews are now putting their energies into prevention to stop the crashes happening in the first place.
“As a ‘messenger’ the trusted firefighter is set apart from other road safety deliverers – they can engage with high risk groups where others potentially either don’t have the resources, the reach or the response.
Bunches
“All too often those bunches of fl owers tied to tree trunks, fences and railings, are the symbols that convey the blight that unsafe roads, unsafe drivers and unsafe vehicles have on the lives of the victim’s families and local residents. The Fire Service ‘duty to engage’ in local area agreements means that we have the ideal opportunity to make a real difference in road safety initiatives, working in partnership with other public service deliverers.”
Further information is available at: www.highways.gov.uk/DIP