Occupational Road
Risk
The reality of Driving Risks
Driving is a high risk occupational activity where peoples’
lives are at stake. It takes place in a dangerous environment over
which the driver and Company have little control. The statistics
speak for themselves:
on average, ten people are killed on our roads every day;
ten times this figure are seriously injured;
30% of all fatalities and injuries are work related;
66% of all company cars are the subject of an insurance claim each
year;
70% of drivers chosen at random would not pass their driving test
without further training;
over 70% of incidents/accidents are never reported;
less than 10% of all occupational drivers receive further training
after passing their driving test;
Drivers are entrusted with an expensive asset without any training
in its use, or their competence being assessed, yet are expected
to drive safely.
Most competence is required where the greatest risk occurs.
Without periodically assessing the competence of your drivers you
do not know the level of driving risk that your company is exposed
to.
You may have drivers who are too dangerous to be on the road and
have been lucky so far. How do you know?
Objectives
Realistic corporate objectives for any ‘Occupational Road
Risk’ management programme would be as follows: -
Compliance with legal requirements
Improvement in employee welfare
Increased productivity
Reduced costs
Action Required
Recognising the reality of driving risk is the first, most important
step in addressing this issue, however, having made this step change
in theory, many businesses struggle to deal with the practicalities
of addressing this.
Effective risk management is not just about ‘ticking boxes’
although no-one can deny the consequences
of not meeting your legal obligations. On the other hand it is not
about mollycoddling drivers at all costs either, yet there are many
companies in the market who build up the individual parts of the
solution components, such as driver training, where much money can
be spent, without material benefit for the business.
Without denying the importance of these components as part of the
overall solution, a structured and sequential approach to ‘Occupational
Road Risk’ is what is required in order to provide robust,
long term, risk management.
Fleetworx initiate this with a risk assessment, which will qualify
the areas of risk to which individuals and the company are exposed
and quantify this risk too. This is an essential part of determining
a strategy and forming an action plan.
Unlike others, our support does not end with
a report that tells you what needs to be done. We will help you
through the process of designing policy,
communicating
with stakeholders and acquiring services from new and existing suppliers,
in order to create a complete solution.
We help you balance essential need with financial constraints, but
importantly get you on the road to developing a ‘safe driving’
and ‘low risk’ culture within your business.
Consequences
Where an employee driving on company business is held responsible
for a serious accident or fatality and is subsequently found not
to be competent, then the company and
individual Directors can be held liable.
Doing nothing is not an option.
Each company has a responsibility for the competence of all occupational
drivers and is required to comply with statutory requirements.
Occupational driving is subject to increasing regulation. Penalties
for non compliance are very severe. Five years ago, the fine
for a fatality where a company was held responsible rarely exceeded
£10K. Now it is likely to be between £100K and £250K,
possibly more.
Department of Transport figures in 2002 show that each road fatality
costs over £1.3 million. The HSE will prosecute individual
Directors for violations including accidents caused by incompetent
occupational drivers. A prison sentence
and heavy fine can result.
Policy
The cornerstone of any communication strategy for Fleet Safety has
to lie with the creation of a policy document that clearly spells
out obligations and expectations and consequences for all parties
involved.
Fleetworx have a number of fleet safety policy templates reflecting
all types of operational nuances that will ensure that continuity
of message and style are maintained whilst none of the essential
components are missed.
Communication
There are many messages and confirmations of activity that will
be necessary during the course of implementing your risk ‘Occupational
Road Risk’ strategy.
It is important that the content and the tone of these create the
required response. Fleetworx will share our experience of this with
you and ensure that your communication is pitched at the right time,
with the right content in order to be as effective as possible.
The Risks of Doing
Nothing!
Where driver competence is not controlled, there is an increased
risk of:
incidents, accidents, their related problems and costs;
higher insurance premiums, or alternatively reduced cover or increased
excess;
financial penalties levied on driver and company;
the absence of key personnel and expertise;
This can lead to loss of contracts/orders, adverse ‘bottom
line’ performance, poor corporate image and criminal prosecution.
  
|
