At work driving management must be given high priority

9 July 2014

Driving for Better Business was delighted to be a contributor to a new RoSPA report which has concluded that road deaths and serious injuries involving at-work drivers and riders is “one of the most serious road safety issues”.

The Strategic Review of the Management of Occupational Road Risk, carried out by TRL and the Centre for Transport Studies at University College London, assesses progress made in helping employers to manage the risks their staff face when they use the road for work purposes.

Figures in the review show that since 2006, in the UK 4,726 people have been killed and more than 40,000 seriously injured in collisions involving an at-work driver or rider (not including commuting); almost 30% of road deaths and more than 22% of serious casualties occur in collisions involving at least one at-work driver or rider.

The review suggests that more needs to be done to ensure work-related road safety is given the same attention as general health and safety. It also says that more should be done to evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to the management of occupational road risk (MORR), and calls for more work into the effectiveness of in-car data recorders and monitoring technologies.

RoSPA will lead a MORR stakeholder forum in the autumn to help develop an action plan. We will also be developing guidance for employers to help them evaluate the measures they have to manage their occupational road risks.

The report adds to the already available knowledge about the effects of good management of this risk by business.

One of the authors, Dr Shaun Helman, TRL’s head of transport psychology, said, “Although some businesses are switched on to the issue, most of the time injuries sustained on the road are not afforded the same priority as injuries sustained on work premises and sites.

“This needs to change, and the recommendations in this report provide a starting point.”