Driving for work

Some 850 and 1,100 people are killed, and 90,000 to 118,000 are seriously injured in work-related road accidents each year.

Between one-quarter and one-third of all road accidents involve someone who was working.

For every £1 recovered through insurance, between £8 and £36 may be lost via uninsured costs.

Yet cost-effective measures to reduce these numbers are readily available.

Driving for Better Business

The Driving for Better Business programme, which is managed and delivered by RoadSafe, is part of the Department for Transport's Driving for Work road safety strategy. It is supported by the Think! public information campaigns and the Health and Safety Executive's direction on Work Related Road Safety.

The aim of the programme is to develop and co-ordinate a network of employers and champions to promote good practice in order to catalyse a reduction in deaths and road injuries caused by vans and cars used for business purposes.

The programme has reached the end of its pilot phase and companies such as Tesco.com and BT are already heavily involved. The programme will soon be launched on a national level. For more information about Driving for Better Business follow the link here or on the grey menu bar at the top of the page.

More information

Compared to other work environments, almost three times as many employees die or are seriously injured while driving on company business.

It is estimated that between 25% and 33% of road traffic accidents involve somebody who was using the road for work purposes. This means that in Great Britain between 850 and 1,100 people are killed, and 90,000 to 118,000 are seriously injured, in work-related road accidents each year. In other words, between one-quarter and one-third of all road accidents involve someone who was working.

The true costs of road accidents to organisations are nearly always significantly higher than the resulting insurance claims. HSE research into workplace accidents (The Costs of Accidents - HSG 96) suggests that, for every £1 recovered through insurance, between £8 and £36 may be lost via uninsured costs.

Many costs (such as lost time in wages and salaries; lost orders and output; administrative costs, legal fees; and costs due to other kinds of business interruption) may not be recoverable. Road accidents can also have a negative impact on staff morale and can damage the organisation's image in the outside world (for example, when liveried vehicles are involved).

However, on-the-road work activity is the aspect of work-related safety which receives least attention by employers with recent research showing that 79% of respondents had yet to compile a vehicle fleet risk management strategy. The activity is also often overlooked by, or even excluded from, public road safety initiatives.

A study carried out for The Commission for Integrated Transport by The Motorists Forum in 2005 concludes that:

  • this is an area where some employers have already achieved remarkable reductions in accidents through the introduction of relatively simple measures;
  • there is a strong business case for employers to improve safety in this area;
  • and there is ample advice on good practice which will help employers achieve major improvements.

Other websites

ORSA: The Occupational Road Safety Alliance (ORSA) aims to raise awareness of work related road safety and to encourage businesses to manage road risk more effectively. www.orsa.org.uk

The Fleet Safety Association comprises a number of professional organisations who are at the forefront of occupational driver safety and who are united in their goal of getting occupational driver safety on the agenda in every board room in the land. www.fleetsafetyassociation.co.uk

DfT Safety at work:  http://www.dft.gov.uk/drivingforwork/

The DfT THINK campaign has a number of resources available on it's website.  http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/drivingforwork/employers.htm

 VFRM: The Virtual Fleet Risk Manager (VFRM), helps organisations manage their road safety strategy effectively by 'Creating a Crash Free Culture'. www.vfrm.com

SafeWorkers: Focuses on workplace safety, including driving at work. http://www.safeworkers.co.uk/DrivingAtWork.html