Tiredness Can Kill - Take a Break

For many people, driving is the most hazardous part of their work activity.  It's estimated that around 200 road deaths and serious injuries each week involve someone at work. Around one third of all crashes are estimated to involve someone who was at work at the time - meaning that up to 1,000 lives are lost each year where someone is driving for work.

Despite these stark facts, some employers tend to focus on health and safety in the workplace and neglect road safety.  However, health and safety law applies equally to on-the-road activities.  Having a robust policy on safe driving will also have a positive impact on your motor fleet insurance costs.

One of the main causes of work related road accidents is driver fatigue.  Tiredness reduces crucial driving skills such as reaction time, alertness, concentration and decision making.  Further, fatigue related accidents tend to be more severe because the driver is less likely to take evasive action such as braking or swerving before impact. 

It is estimated that driver tiredness causes around one fifth of accidents on major roads, and is responsible for around 300 deaths per year.

As an Employer do you have a Safe Driving Policy?

As an employer, you have a legal duty to take all reasonable and practical steps to ensure the safety of your employees who drive as part of their job as well as those on the roads around them who may be affected by their driving.  If you fail in that duty, you could be prosecuted.

As part of your Safe Driving Policy, you should ensure that all members of staff, including senior managers and line managers, understand that your organisation expects everyone to drive safely for their own and others’ benefit.  Journey plans should be made and these should include enough time for rest breaks and unexpected delays.  Ensure that workers are not expected to drive too far in a day or spend too long on the road.  Set in-house limits for unbroken driving hours - suggest that drivers do not drive for more than 2 hours without at least a 15 minute break.

Contact your Cherrypicked Insurance broker to find out more about how important it is for your business to have a Safe Driving Policy and to discuss motor fleet insurance.

Last reviewed 7/11/2011

Source: Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.  © Crown Copyright Department for Transport

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