Wolseley champions road safety

Safety organisation RoadSafe has chosen Wolseley to be a Business Champion to support its national road safety campaign.

Wolseley, the UK’s leading distributor of plumbing and heating products, is championing the ‘Driving for Better Business’ initiative in the construction industry by raising awareness among other companies in the sector. RoadSafe’s campaign aims to reduce the number of deaths and injuries on the road while driving on business.

Wolseley was selected as a Business Champion due to its successful fleet safety strategy, which has seen a 50 per cent reduction in third party incidents in four years. The company has formed a safety steering group to proactively develop safer driving policies, with initiatives including an online driving risk assessment, safe driver’s handbook which is given to all new commercial vehicle and car drivers, a quarterly road safety newsletter, a ‘safe driver of the year competition’ and active participation in events such as National Road Safety Week.

Paul Gallemore, head of health, safety and environment at Wolseley, said: “With one of the largest vehicle fleets in the UK, we recognise the importance of demonstrating best practice in approaches to road safety and we are delighted to be involved in this campaign.

“Our role as a Business Champion will involve participating at RoadSafe’s workshops and presenting at various conferences throughout the year to take the road safety message to industry and encourage others in our market sector to adopt similar policies.”

Caroline Scurr, Programme Manager, Driving for Better Business Programme, added: “Every day more than 150 vehicles are involved in an accident on work-related journeys, with more than 1,000 lives lost each year. It is vital businesses increase awareness, implement clear procedures and adopt effective road safety policies.

“We are really impressed with Wolseley’s approach to road safety and are pleased to have their support in the Driving for Better Business campaign.”