Businesses targeted to help drivers

A NEW pack aimed at helping businesses make sure that they are compliant with all the laws around driving and recognise the importance of work-related road safety is being circulated to over 2000 businesses in the South Yorkshire area.

The pack – the first of its kind in the country - has been put together by a partnership group of road safety practitioners from South Yorkshire’s local authorities, as well South Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Rescue, and Safety Camera Partnership and Yorkshire Ambulance. It has received approval from the Department of Transport, the Highways Agency, the Confederation of Freight Operators and many more.

A key element of the innovative pack is a Safe Driving at Work booklet. This isn’t a definitive guide to laws governing businesses and their drivers, as there are too many variants to be able to fully cover every possibility for every type of organisation that employs drivers. Instead, the booklet helps businesses deal with managing occupational road risk by directing its readers to websites so that they can develop their own company’s driving policies.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt of South Yorkshire Police, chairs the Casualty Reduction Partnership group that developed the booklet.

“On April 6, the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force,” he said, “which makes it clear that business and their employees are responsible for all aspects of their work. We firmly believe that the most dangerous part of any job is the driving. Around 1,000 people die every year in occupational accidents on our nation’s roads compared with fewer than 350 in other work related accidents. It is therefore even more important now that any business or organisation that employs drivers has an up-to-date and accurate driving policy for all its employees to follow.

“There are numerous laws covering occupational driving, and it’s almost impossible to cover such an in-depth subject quickly and concisely. A courier firm that solely uses motorbikes would have a different driver policy to one that uses cars or vans. A taxi firm that owns its own vehicles would have a different policy to one that has its drivers using their own cars. It can get really complicated, so we decided the best way to do it would be to show businesses where they can find all the information they need and let them do their own research.”

Chris Hamer, Chair of the South Yorkshire Road Safety Practitioners, wants to reminds directors and company bosses that they have a moral as well as a legal duty to manage their employee’s risks when they are on the road.

“This obligation can be met by the introduction and implementation of a Driving for Work policy,” he said, “with education and training being the key. This pack will help develop one and contact details are available of the Road Safety practitioners offering more help on any of the issues that the pack raises.”

ENDS

Issued by press office, 01226 773443, email: pressoffice@barnsley.gov.uk