FORTH and TAY DISTRICT
of
EDINBURGH BRANCH
23rd meeting
D. Mann A. Thomson J. Anderson A.Pill D. Binnie P. Szawlowski S.Hughes I.Murray R. Leggeat G. Young K. Paterson B. Davies J. Little D. Little D. Murray J. Gorgon R. Greer I. Scott B. Stainton A. Leaver T. Gray D. Devey K. McDonnell
A. Stark S. Chisholm J. Goddard R. Lacey T. Mellon N. Doherty B. McDonnell E. Stobie
1. Chairperson Karen McDonnell
Karen opened the meeting at 7.30 pm. and welcomed everyone to the 23rd meeting of the Forth and Tay District. After going through the emergency procedures Karen outlined the programme for the evening: business first, followed by a presentation by the guest speaker.
The Secretary – Dick Mann – asked the meeting if there were any comments to be noted regarding the minutes of the previous non-AGM meeting held on the 4th November 2004. No comments were forthcoming and so it was proposed that those minutes be accepted.
Proposed: Kirsten Paterson Seconded: Andy Pill
3 Secretary’s Report: Dick Mann
Jim Anderson (since corrected)
Tom Waddell
Paul Colquhoun
John McDonald
Alistair Milne
Bob McDonnell (since corrected)
Laurie Richards
Terry Parnell
Alec Milne
Jim Greenhill
· The list of names for people wishing the be included on the site visit to RAF Leuchars on the 2nd June stood at 16 at the start of the meeting. (Maximum number of 20 now reached)
· Finally the Secretary asked the members present at the meeting to please make a small donation for teas or coffees to defray the costs to District funds. (£5.08 was collected at the end of the meeting)
4 Correspondence
5. Branch Liaison: Karen McDonnell
Karen McDonnell informed the meeting that she would continue to be the Branch Liaison person for the District. There is to be seminar on the 23rd June regarding changes to the IOSH membership structure. Karen stated that, after the seminar, she hoped to be able to help and advise District members with membership upgrades.
Nil
7. Guest Speaker:
Presentation by Paul Richardson, Road Safety Manager, of Lothian and Borders Police
Road Safety and the Way Ahead
Paul started by asking whether we took driving as a work activity seriously, and concluded that we do not, although some businesses whose core activity is driving are getting better. He developed the case for his conclusion in a lively and stimulating presentation using facts, figures and current road safety awareness advertising, and ended by explaining the Fleetsure programme and its benefits.
Some of the statistical evidence is listed here:
Only 27% of assorted drivers undertaking a driving theory test (as in the Driving test) on a TV programme attained the necessary 30 out of 35 correct answers to the multiple choice questions.
At a recent Fleetsure award ceremony when attendees were asked 5 such questions, only 2 of 22 transport health and safety managers got all five right, and only another 4 got 4 out of 5 answers correct.
One third of all serious or fatal road accidents involve a driver at work, this is equivalent to about 1200 people per year in Scotland.
The risk of death or serious injury to drivers who drive over 20,000 miles per year is as great as that of working in the construction industry.
30% of company drivers have penalty points on their licences. This is nearly double the national average.
According to the RAC, 65% of corporately owned vehicles are involved in some sort of road accident every year. (The writer thinks this means damage to vehicles however minor)
Paul pointed out that few employers realise the full potential of claims against them and illustrated this with a picture of a lorry which had impacted a low railway bridge. The busy line was closed for some time and all the train operating companies and Railtrack sued the company for business interruption.
Looking at companies, Paul gave more startling statistics.
Over half of businesses do not assess drivers’ ability before allowing them to drive on business.
The majority of accidents come from a small percentage of drivers.
64% of companies were not sure if they had processes in place to check driving licences.
36% of fleet drivers have never had their licences checked.
79% of businesses do not have a risk management strategy.
38% of Fleet executives are unaware of the Driving at Work report.
While 83% of firms have a policy on driving and use of mobile phones, and 33 % have installed hands-free kits, failing to observe this law is one of the commonest offences noted.
4 out of 5 drivers at work have never been offered any driver training.
Company van drivers aged under 30 are the most likely group to have accidents.
In a recent report, “Profit through Safety: a Boardroom plan for action” it is recommended that all companies should appoint a director to take responsibility for driving operations. With the likely implementation of a Corporate Manslaughter law this might concentrate minds better on controlling driving risks. Already one transport manager has been jailed for encouraging drivers to falsify their tachographs, and another director sentenced for making a driver work excessive hours, resulting in a crash when he fell asleep at the wheel.
The DETR report, “Tomorrow’s Roads – Safer for Everyone”, sets targets for 2010 to reduce: fatal accidents by 40%, child fatal or serious accidents by 50%, and slight injury rate by 10%.Scotland is well on the way to achieving these targets, but we still have about 350 killed and 3500 seriously injured every year on the roads besides 20,000 less serious injuries. 20 road deaths each week involve people at work.
The Road Safety Bill, which will probably not become law until 2006, proposes graded penalty points for speeding according the gravity of the breach, and 3 penalty points for drivers convicted of using a mobile phone while driving. The latter offence is prosecuted 145 times per month in Lothian and Borders Region alone and there has been one imprisonment of a driver in Northumberland whose offence caused a fatality.
Paul went on to look at the UK attitude to alcohol limits when driving, informing that the UK was one of 5 EU countries allowing the highest level at 80 mg while many of our “poorer” EU neighbours allow only 50 or less.
Considering speed, it was recognised that rural roads have a high number of speed-related accidents, including bikers. The new Speed Camera Partnerships are reinvesting fines levied into road safety improvements. Speed cameras may be static, mobile or red cameras, and while the Police want to prevent speeding by giving good warning to drivers of the presence of cameras, in practice many drivers just ignore these. A mobile camera works by means of a laser spot detector with a range of about a mile, so slowing down when you see the suspicious car at the side of the motorway may be too late! 6000 speeding offences per month are prosecuted in Lothian and Borders, a higher proportion than likely being company and taxi drivers.
Research shows that a vehicle takes 21 feet further to stop if it is travelling at 35m.p.h rather than 30m.p.h.. That stopping distance makes a vital difference in preventing accidents, hence the strictness of applying the speed limit in 30m.p.h. zones. Evidence also shows that a child hit at 30 m.p.h. has an 80% chance of survival whereas at 40m.p.h. the child has an 80% chance of dying. RoSPA has published a Safer Speed Policy which it is sending to all firms with over 50 employees explaining why controlling the speed of work drivers is so important.
The severity of injury is well known to be greater when vehicle occupants are not wearing seat belts yet this omission continues to cause concern and is the subject of current TV advertising. For delivery drivers the short distance they may drive without re-belting up has now been clarified as 50 metres.
Stopping distance is the key factor to preventing accidents, yet few drivers appreciate how their stopping distance is increased by distractions or drugs/alcohol, and the range of those distractions. TRL research considered the reaction times under different circumstances fro a driver travelling at 70m.p.h. and found as follows:
Circumstances Reaction time in metres travelled at 70 mph normal 31
With 80 mg% alcohol in blood 35
Using hand-free phone 39
Using hand held phone 45
It has also been estimated that a driver on a mobile phone is 4 times more likely to have an accident that if not using one.
Sadly there are estimated to be some 1 million unlicensed drivers at the wheel in the UK and that 15 % of the journeys they make are “at work”. This should be strong motivation for firms to check drivers licences, and if required the RAC will carry out licence checks for you at £10 a time.
Other key issues which employers should action in relation to work driving are:
Where employees use their own vehicles for work, employers still have a range of responsibilities and need to develop policies and guidelines.
A number of organisations are available to help employers improve driving at work safety:
http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk
http://www.hse.org.uk (Health and Safety Executive)
http://www.orsa.org.uk (Occupational Road Safety Alliance)
Fleetsure encourages employers to manage road risk and rewards good practice. Police will come in and talk with drivers about safe driving issues, and Fleetsure provides several themed mailings per year to members. A free day seminar is imminent at which interested parties are all welcome.
Paul answered a query about the distraction caused by smoking while driving reminding everyone that no smoking policies cover vehicle workplaces as well as buildings and encouraging such bans.
A hearty applause expressed the audience’s appreciation of Paul’s lively presentation.
Barry Davies then proposed a Vote of Thanks for the excellent, informative and most entertaining presentation. The Chairperson, Karen McDonnell, presented Paul with an Edinburgh Crystal vase as a token of the District’s thanks for his coming to speak to them.
Next Meeting.
For those not attending the site visit on the 2nd June, the date of the next meeting will be Thursday 1st September.
Please note however that there will probably be a change of venue for the meetings for season 2005/ 2006 forced upon us by changes in security measures and booking difficulties at the Business Gateway. Further information will be promulgated when details and difficulties are resolved.