Health & Safety
Better safe than sorry - road safety should be a priority
ANYBODY who uses the public highway must comply with road traffi c legislation, which is managed by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The regulations cover things as diverse as requirements for vehicles to be regularly examined for road-worthiness, through to the application of speed limits. However, employers also have some responsibilities to manage the work properly, and take proportionate measures to keep workers safe.
You must ensure work-related activities are always safe
According to the Department of Transport, more than a quarter of all road traffi c incidents may involve somebody who is driving as part of their work. Health and safety law applies to work-related activities on the road, in the same way as it does to all work activities - you need to manage the risks to drivers, as part of health and safety arrangements.
There will always be risks associated with driving. Although these cannot be completely controlled, the employer has a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to manage these risks, and do everything reasonably practicable to protect people from harm in the same way as they would in the workplace.
Eff ective management of work-related road safety helps reduce risk, no matter
what size an organisation is. It could also result in, for example:
• Fewer injuries to drivers; • Fewer insurance claims;
• Reduced risk of work- related ill health;
• Reduced stress and improve morale.
Employers have duties under health and safety law for on-the-road work activities. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) states you must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all employees while at work.
You must also ensure others are not put at risk by your work-related driving activities. ‘So far as reasonably practicable’ means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble.
However, you do not need to take action if it would be grossly disproportionate to the level of risk.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers to manage health and safety eff ectively.
ASSESSMENT
They must carry out an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of employees while they are at work, and to other people who may be aff ected by an organisation’s work activities, such as other road users.
Transport Operators also have duties under road traffi c law, e.g. the Road Traffi c Act and Road Vehicles
Deborah Williams CMIOSH RMaPS is Principal Safety Consultant at Compass Ltd. Deborah specialises in assisting private sector organisations within the construction, waste management and extractive industries.
You can contact her on - 01257 482256 or via email:
dwilliams@compass-ms.co.uk
26 SHM February, 2017 COMPASS’s Deborah Williams
(Construction and Use) Regulations (which are administered by police), and other agencies such as the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
In most cases, police will continue to take the lead on investigating road traffi c incidents on public roads.
HSE will usually only take enforcement action where the police identify serious management failures have been a signifi cant contributory factor to an incident.
If an employee is killed while driving at work and there is evidence that serious management failures resulted in a ‘gross breach of a relevant duty of care’, a company or organisation could be at risk of being prosecuted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, as well as the relevant road traffi c legislation.
Transport Operators need to ensure compliance with both health and safety legislation and the road traffi c laws; COMPASS has a team of specialist transport compliance consultants who advise on compliance of transport operations and assist is managing a fl eet safely and in compliance with the wealth of legal requirements.
These include driver’s hours, driving license checks, compliance audits, and assistance with public enquiries and achieving external accreditation such as FORS (Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme).
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