THE Health and Safety Executive has set itself a 14-month deadline in which to make recommendations to Government ministers on the best methods to prevent work-related road traffic accidents. The work will be carried out by the Work Related Road Safety Task Group, formed by Lord Whitty, minister for road safety and health and safety at work, and Bill Callaghan, chair to the Health and Safety Commission, which held its inaugural meeting at the beginning of the month.

Rosalind Roberts, HSE senior policy adviser, told the RoSPA 'Safety and Health at Work' congress: 'To achieve our goal of reducing accidents we recognise there's a lot of work to be done but in the long-term we see HSE's enforcement role in road safety will be a proactive one. The police wish to reserve all reactive on-the-road investigations to their jurisdiction, except for work activities like construction where HSE has an established role.'

The task group has been divided into three sub-groups. One will look at the causes of work-related road accidents, the second will consider how health and safety law enforcement and road traffic law can be 'dovetailed' without new legislation and how this impacts on the police and other enforcers like traffic commissioners. The third sub-group will work on a discussion exercise and a code of practice.