RoSPA Press Office : Press Release
October 19, 1998
ACTION CALL ON COMPANY CAR ACCIDENTS
Seventeen leading companies and organisations have joined RoSPA in a ‘get tough’ call to the authorities for action to reduce the number of accidents involving motorists travelling for work.
They have signed a declaration with The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, urging employers to introduce tighter controls on the safety of their workers while on the road.
The signatories warn that, if things do not improve, legal action will have to be taken against employers who fail to safeguard their car and van drivers.
The declaration states: "In appropriate cases, where road accidents involving ‘at work’ vehicles have been caused by a failure to manage occupational road risk, for example by setting drivers unsafe schedules, the police and health and safety enforcing authorities should work together to secure the prosecution of offenders under health and safety legislation."
Roger Bibbings, RoSPA Occupational Safety Adviser, said: "If the law affected the employers in this way it would make them take the safety of their drivers more seriously and could possibly prevent hundreds of accidents every year."
RoSPA is now calling for other companies to join the likes of Kellogg, the Confederation of British Industry, and the Trades Union Congress, in the campaign to urge the Government here, and in Europe, to make managing occupational road risk a priority.
On March 24, 1999, RoSPA is holding a conference - ‘Managing Occupational Road Risk’ - to discuss the issues and look at ways employers can improve their drivers’ safety on the roads.
The Zurich-sponsored conference at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel, includes reports on ‘creating an accident free culture’ and ‘what makes people drive badly and how do managers make it worse?’
With 800 to 1,000 road deaths a year linked to driving for work, RoSPA is aiming to have the problem recognised as a health and safety at work issue. The Society’s Managing Occupational Road Risk campaign was launched in March, with a guidance document for companies, backed by the Government, police, CBI and trade unions.
Note to Editors
The seventeen signatories who have joined with RoSPA are:
- Allianz Cornhill Insurance
- Association of British Insurers
- Association of Car Fleet Operators
- Association of Industrial Road Safety Officers
- Bayer plc
- BNFL
- BRAKE
- Confederation of British Industry
- Devon County Council
- Engineering Employers Federation
- Fleet Driver Training Association
- Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
- Kellogg Co. of Great Britain
- Local Authority Road Safety Officers’ Association
- Trades Union Congress
- University of Huddersfield
- Zurich Insurance Company
