Leading by example
Jamie Hassall, Executive Director, PACTS
I like to think we share a vision with our members of having a transport system free from death and life-changing injury, in which all users feel safe. It’s clear that achieving this will take time, and with road deaths flatlining for the past 10 years, we have our work cut out for us. The upcoming general election provides us with an opportunity: to influence a new government to put road safety high on the priority list, and to demonstrate that having safe roads is good for the country. After all, fewer deaths and injuries lowers the impact on the health service, makes roads more reliable, reduces lost work/productivity and has environmental benefits. Even with overwhelming evidence of the benefits of improving road safety, it is unlikely to appear in the manifestos of the main parties, and so change at a government level will be slow. Therefore, like the safe system approach, we need to look at what other levers we can use to influence change – ones that ideally don’t cost the government much to support.
One area where I believe a lot more can be done is around work-related road safety. In this country, unless you’re a deep-sea driver, one of the most dangerous jobs (or part of them) will be interacting with the roads. I recently read the road safety and commuting sections of Officer and Staff Safety Review (college.police.uk): before this report was published, the police did not know that the biggest risk to their workforce was road safety. 53% of police deaths during the study period were due to road traffic collisions and, more shockingly, 80% of these occurred during the commute to or from work. Even the MOD have a Road Safety Strategy, as traffic collisions consistently remain in the top three causes of armed forces fatalities. Even with most of these occurring while not on duty, the impact of these losses has prompted them into action. Does anyone have a report on road deaths in the health service? I’ve heard lots of stories about doctors and nurses being killed on the way home after a night shift. PACTS will be sending some FOI requests to government departments seeking data on staff deaths related to RTCs.
Once again, rail seem to be leading the way on road safety relating to staff fatigue, and have just released this document for consultation: Managing rail staff fatigue: draft version for consultation (orr.gov.uk). It does not set any new requirements but flags the current H&SE guidance that applies to all industries, as well as what the current law requires. However, it seems this is being missed or ignored my most. It’s clear that the larger the organisation, the quicker a pattern can be identified, but only if the right data is being collected and reviewed. For small organisations, unless it’s collected at an industry level, it could go undetected.
So, are we leading by example as a transport safety community?
Due to the size of PACTS, we don’t have to have a transport/driving for work policy, but I plan to develop one. Driving for Better Business are working on versions that companies can adapt to suit their business, so please consider signing up (it’s free to do so). To set an even better example, I also need to consider setting up a workplace drug & alcohol testing programme, but not this financial year. Have a think if your company is leading by example, and what more you could be doing in this area. Please do share your best practice that others may be able to benefit from, so that together we can make a difference.