New regulations considered for reporting at-work road crashes

News that the Government is considering introducing new regulations that will require vehicle accidents involving at-work drivers to be officially recorded and reported could prove an incentive to companies to get their drivers properly trained.

According to Graham Hurdle, managing director of E-Training World, companies only have themselves to blame if new legislation leads to an increase in form filling.

At present road traffic accidents do not have to be reported under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995) and many businesses are complaining that any such new requirement will be yet another unnecessary burden.

“The simple answer is, if you don’t want the hassle, get your drivers trained and don’t put unacceptable pressure on them. I will not have any sympathy with a company that has to report an accident where one of their drivers crashed because he was rushing to complete a work load that superman would find exhausting, “said Graham who backs the proposed new legislation.

“Why is it we will protest about any regulation that increases the work load of a manager, but those employees that drive as part of their job are being asked to do more deliveries or sales appointments.”

Hurdle belies that the reason work place accidents have fallen since the introduction of the Health & Safety Act in 1974 is because employers believe they will be prosecuted if they fail to manage the risk their employees and others are exposed to.

By the same token the reason why so few companies do anything about their at-work drivers risk is because they don’t believe, or are ignorant to the fact, that they could be prosecuted.

“It’s a farce when you consider that you can fall off a ladder and bruise your back and have to report it under RIDDOR, whereas you can hit another vehicle at 60 mph and that is not classed as a ‘dangerous occurrence in the workplace’.

“It feels to me like there’s always been a gap in the entire approach to ensuring the best quality of driving within British businesses and yet another example of how we treat the use of vehicles too flippantly in UK industry.”