Do you have staff who drive for work?

Staff who drive for work at greater risk of being involved in a collision. Statistics show that work related road crashes are the biggest cause of work related accidental deaths. Every year up to 600 deaths involve someone driving for work and approximately one in three crashes will involve an at-work driver.* With tough mobile phone legislation having recently been introduced it’s even more important employers consider the implications and potential risks of staff who drive for work. Norfolk County Council is launching a campaign to help businesses get the advice and training they need to keep staff who drive for work safe on the roads. Under current legislation employers are legally responsible for their employees’ safety whilst driving for work – even if employees are in their own cars. With new technology, in car distractions have never been higher so there are lots of opportunities for drivers to take their eyes off the road, even for a split second. Iain Temperton Casualty Reduction Education and Development manager said: “That split second of lost concentration could mean the difference between life and death. Our main priority within the Road Safety team at Norfolk County Council is to help make Norfolk roads safe. By providing bespoke advice and driver training to businesses across the region we can help minimise the risk facing their staff who drive for work. Employers have a corporate responsibility to their staff and we work with businesses from all over the county to help ensure they have a robust driving for work policy in place, and that their staff can drive smarter and safer on the roads.” Cllr Martin Wilby chair of the Environment, Development and Transport Committee said: ” The driving courses offered by Norfolk County Council are an extremely effective way of getting individuals who drive for work to be more aware of the distractions that exist on the road. I would urge any local businesses whose staff drive for work to evaluate their driving for work policy to ensure the risks to their staff are minimised.” HR Advisor Lisa from Brown & Co Business & Property Consultants realises just how important driving for business training is for Brown & Co.: “75% of our staff drive for work and with most of them driving long distance and on rural roads we were keen to ensure their safety by whichever means possible. We’ve now put 130 members of our staff through the training provided by Norfolk County Council. The course is run by professionals and covers the most up to date information as well as the most recent legislation and how that affects us as a business. By putting our staff through this training it has allowed us to feel as though we are actively doing something to protect the health and wellbeing of our staff members.” Lisa goes on to say just how much the staff have enjoyed the half day workshops “We’ve had great feedback from the staff attending the course, they found it interesting, useful and it made them stop and think about their own driving habits. ” “Norfolk County Council offered us a flexible approach to our training, with our staff being trained in groups it was a cost effective way of training staff from several branches at the same time. I would definitely recommend the driving for work training courses. We would much rather invest time up front to help minimise the risk of an accident on the road and I’d like to think it benefits the business by having happy, safe employees who know we go that ‘extra mile’ for them. Norfolk County Council offers hands-on training and driver assessment for employees who drive for work as well as theoretical learning and policy writing for fleet managers and health and safety staff. Courses range from 1.5 hours bitesize sessions to full day workshops and can be run at a company’s premises. For more information contact the road safety team at [email protected] or visit www.driveforwork.co.uk -ENDS- Notes for Editors *Department for Transport (DfT) 2015