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| Select
Committee Report - Work-Related Road Safety |
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| 217.
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The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport
Safety (PACTS) told the Committee that one
aspect of the changing world of work is
that increasing numbers of people are required
to be mobile. If employers are to discharge
their responsibility to manage health and
safety risks to their employees, they have
to manage those faced by employees on the
road, as well as by those in fixed workplaces.
HSE and local authorities, as enforcing
authorities, have a duty to ensure that
this happens. |
| 218. |
The HSC told us that, based on the assumption
that between 25-33 per cent of road traffic
incidents might be work-related, the range
of fatal injuries is approximately 860-1130
a year. This compares to 226 fatal injuries
to workers in the "traditional"
workplace. The number of serious injuries
due to work-related road traffic incidents
is estimated to be between 8980 and 11,870
a year. |
| 219.
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In May 2000, the Government and HSC set
up a Work-related Road Safety Task Group
to look at what action could be announced
within the strategy, signalling Government
commitment to see what action can be taken
to reduce road traffic incidents connected
to work. This group reported in November
2001 and made a number of recommendations
for action by HSE. |
| 220. |
In this context, both PACTS and the Royal
Society for the Prevention of Accidents
(RoSPA) consider it worrying that HSC’s
recent strategy document neglected to
mention work-related road safety. PACTS
added that a recent leaflet on health
and safety in road haulage ‘most
bizarrely’ contained no references
to work-related road safety, focusing
entirely on issues such as loading and
unloading. HSE has, as recommended by
the Task Group, produced guidance on the
issue. RoSPA point out that the guidance
explicitly states that work-related road
safety is not among HSE’s current
priorities. Prospect is concerned that
this guidance is not going to be enforced.
In oral evidence, Mr Bill Callaghan, Chair
of the HSC said that:
"To
be blunt, if HSE were to engage in a
major enforcement and accident investigation
role in this area, that would be a major
distortion of our resources. We would
not be able to do that and meet all
the other things that we would like
to do in the construction industry,
migrant workers and elsewhere."
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| 221.
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On
the question of resources, the Work-related
Road Safety Task Group found that :
"This
initiative, if given the right level
of support, is likely to make a significant
contribution to meeting the Government’s
target on reducing road casualties.
But money must be there to pay for preventive
action…The Task Group believes
that considerable societal savings can
be made, dwarfing the added funding
to enforcing authorities that might
be necessary."
It
therefore recommended that the Government
and HSC should consider what resources
are appropriate to implement these recommendations.
Mr Bill Callaghan told us that HSE investigation
and enforcement of these incidents would
require 460-802 staff years. However,
the Minister told us that there was a
question of policy as well as resources
:
"It
is not an area on which the HSE or the
Commission take a lead, it is an area
where other organisations have a much
greater enforcement role. The police,
for example, have greater potential
for contact with working drivers and
employers, contact that the HSE simply
could not match and, therefore, should
not be trying to duplicate."
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| 222.
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The Minister also said that it was her view
that HSE could not add anything to what
was already being done by other agencies.
However, the Minister has partly missed
the point, which is that the police and
HSE have different roles. PACTS points out
that the police tend to focus on an individual’s
level and, as regards injuries, usually
become involved after the event. HSE, on
the other hand, is responsible for ensuring
risk is managed at an organisational level
– that is, preventative action before
the event. Employers need to assess and
manage the risks to their workforce. HSE
needs to ensure this happens. |
| 223.
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There
would also appear to be a tension between
Minister’s comments and the conclusions
of the Work-related Road Safety Task Group,
who said that a consequence of allowing
road traffic law to take precedence over
health and safety at work legislation meant
there had been ‘little motivation for
employers, or the enforcing authorities,
to examine whether a failure in health and
safety management systems might have contributed
to an incident.’ It recommended that
‘the various authorities, led by HSE,
should develop ways of working to investigate
at-work road traffic incidents and take
appropriate enforcement action.’ |
| 224.
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The Committee recommends that the HSE
are provided with the necessary resources
to enable them to enforce effectively its
existing guidance on work-related road safety,
particularly in relation to preventative
measures. |
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