Driver Safety Program: Reducing Driving Risk
Background
According to research conducted by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, vehicle deaths account for 13% of death for males aged 15 to 44; second only to suicide. This risk is significant to any organisation. Do you have a driver safety program as part of your workplace risk management?
The Case for Reducing Driving Risk
Even more staggering, is that vehicles are the number one cause of death at work, accounting for 65% of all workplace fatalities.
Driving incidents which do not prove fatal result in an average of 5 weeks off work and a workers compensation costs of $9,000 or more.
Finally, nearly 60 bystanders have been killed in the last 10 years by people driving work-related vehicles. These are customers, visitors, members of the public.
Without a doubt driving is one of the most significant WHS risks in your business.
How do you currently manage this risk?
In all likelihood, you mainly rely on the numerous engineering controls that come as standard in the modern fleet, supplemented by your drivers experience. For monitoring and supervision, you rely upon the plethora of fixed speeding and red light cameras, along with the services of your state or territory police.
For the most part, this probably serves you reasonably well. However, it doesn’t take into account drivers who have learned bad habits, make poor decisions for a range of reasons, or who make errors.
Training and Behaviour Options
There are a range of training and behavioural options available. For a long time, defensive driving was the solution to managing driving risk. Unfortunately, subsequent research showed mixed results with some studies showing drivers became over confident after completing the training and actually increased their risk taking behaviours.
Some organisations have gone down the paid incentive path, however this too has mixed results, often costing the organisation money before and after incidents.
OSHEM Solutions’ Safer Drivers Program
The “Safer Drivers Program” acknowledges that your drivers generally know how to drive safe. It recognises that they drive the safest cars we have ever seen. Instead, it helps your drivers to identify the aspects of their driving which are unsafe and encourages them to consciously make a decision to change.
The program also includes an assessment of how your organsational culture and management actions which could be contributing to driver risk taking.
Research shows that the processes used in our program are more successful at reducing the number and severity of fleet accidents than customised driver skills training, safety awareness campaigns and even paid incentives.
We are so confident that it works, we provide a guarantee. Contact us to find out more.
Contact Us
If you would like to know more about the OSHEM Solutions’ “Safer Drivers Program”, or any of the other WHS consultant services we provide, call 1300 657 279 or Contact Us by email.
