Managing occupational road safety

This section has been added outside the NEBOSH certificate because it is an important area of concern recently given more prominence by the UK s HSE. It has been estimated that up to a third of all road traffic accidents involve somebody who is at work at the time. This may account for over 20 fatalities and 250 serious injuries every week. Some employers believe, incorrectly, that if they comply with certain road traffic law requirements, so that company vehicles have a valid MOT certificate, and drivers hold a valid licence, this is enough to ensure the safety of their employees, and others, when 

These requirements are in addition to the duties employers have under road traffic law, e.g. the Road Traffic Act and Road Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regulations, which are administered by the police and other agencies such as the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency. 

Health and safety law does not apply to commuting, unless the employee is travelling from their home to a location which is not their usual place of work. 

2 Benefits of managing work-related road safety 

The true costs of accidents to organizations are nearly always higher than just the costs of repairs and insurance claims. The benefits of managing work-related road safety can be considerable, no matter what the size of the organizations. There will be benefits in the area of  

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Finally, one of the objectives of the book is to provide a handbook for the use of any person who has health and safety as part of their responsibilities. We thought that it would be helpful, therefore, to add a few useful topics that are outside the syllabus. These include managing occupational road risks (Chapter 11), fast track settlement of compensation claims following the Woolfe reforms (Chapter 18) and demolition using explosives (Chapter 10). 

The old adage that says that failure to plan is planning to fail is very appropriate when discussing the need to have a safety and health management process in place for each workplace. The term process infers action, meaning to implement and organize an approach. Such an approach must set forth a roadmap to follow, as well as the rules of the road that must be followed in order to attain a safe and healthy work environment. This organized approach to occupational safety and health must contain all the components to accomplish a process that will facilitate safety and health at the workplace. The process will include... 

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