A Published Top-Line Guide to Compliance & Road-Related Work Safety

The Health and Safety (Offenses) Act 2008 comes hard on the heels of the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 and reinforces the need for both private and public sector companies to focus on Health and Safety, including work related road safety which accounts for more than 1,000 fatalities each year making it the single largest cause of occupational fatalities in the UK.

In crude terms, the first of these Acts seeks to do this by threatening the organisation with large financial penalties; the Sentencing Council (SGC) is considering fines of up to 10% of annual turnover.  The second Act takes a different approach as it targets individuals rather than the organisation.  With the threat of fines of up to £20,000 or prison sentences of up to 2 years it can penalise people at all levels from employees to managers to Directors in the event of failures relating to Health and Safety.
 
Time will only tell which of the two threats is the more effective.  Will the spectre of a fine that could break many companies motivate a Board to take action?  Or will it be the fear of time behind bars that encourages people at all levels in the organisation to make changes? And it is clear that changes are needed in relation to occupational road risk.  For example, while almost all companies have policies in place, nearly 4 out of 5 companies have no method of formally monitoring safety policy for employees driving on company business. 

Much of this inactivity is down to ignorance.  Many organisations simply do not  understand that Health and Safety law applies to on-the-road work activities as it does to all work activities.  Others do not appreciate that it applies to all work related journeys regardless of whether the vehicle that is being driven is owned by the company, leased or on Contract Hire from a Third Party company or whether it belongs to the employee.  And all too many organisations do not appreciate that thier responsibilities apply not just to their employees but to anyone who might be put at risk by work-related driving activities – i.e. the public at large. 

However, some of this inactivity is down to avoidance.  There are companies that are aware of and understand their responsibilities but have made the decision not to take any action. 

In most cases this is driven by concern about the costs involved with complying with the guidelines that the Government has laid down for managing work related road safety.  These are documented in “Driving At Work: Managing Work Related Road Safety” published by the Health and Safety Executive (document reference number INDG382). 

The guidelines require companies to capture, record and assess information relating to drivers, vehicles and the journeys that are made.  In the case of drivers and vehicles the information is reasonably simple to capture and record and only needs to be assessed periodically.  For example annual checks on the penalty points on drivers licenses, eye-sight test results and MOT certificates. 

Capturing information on journeys and breaks that are taken is a different matter altogether.

This involves records being generated every day and in many cases multiple records for the same day if an employee makes more than one journey.  In many cases the sheer volume of records makes assessments difficult if not impossible if undertaken manually.  More importantly, any system of records that relies on drivers providing information is inevitably going to be highly suspect and therefore, of limited value.   Realistically no one is going to provide information which is in any way self-incriminating if there is no way for the company or organisation to verify or check the information. 

There are however, advanced vehicle tracking systems such as Cybits’ Fleetstar solution that can generate exceptionally accurate and reliable journey records automatically and with no manual effort. They also provide analysis that enable companies to evidence compliance with the guidelines established by the Health and Safety Executive (INDG382). 

Fleetstar can also help identify other aspects of risk relevant to managing work related road safety such as speeding and both harsh acceleration and braking. 

Fleetstar vehicle tracking as an aid to compliance and risk management can be justified purely on the basis of managing legislative compliance. Consider what would the value you place on preventing just one accident? 

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