Gateshead Council puts road safety first

It’s official! Gateshead Council runs one of Britain’s safest fleets and is among the first public sector organisations to become a ‘business champion’ under the Government’s ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme.

Gateshead Council runs a fleet of more than 350 vehicles including minibuses, light commercial vehicles and HGVs across a range of operations including: construction, refuse collection, highways maintenance and street lighting, gritting, community services and home to school transport.

In recent years Gateshead Council has undertaken a root and branch review of its entire fleet operation and introduced a raft of measures to ensure employees and all other road users are as safe as possible. That has resulted in a crash rate reduction of almost a third in the last three years.

The ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme is managed by RoadSafe on behalf of the Department for Transport, which is working with the police and a raft of other agencies to encourage companies and organisations nationwide to implement best practice occupational road risk management programmes.

Driving on business, for most employees, is the most dangerous task they undertake during their working life, according to official figures. Last year, Department figures reveal that 2,943 people were killed on Britain’s roads with almost 250,000 people injured.

The Government estimates that there are 200 road deaths and serious injuries a week resulting from crashes involving at work drivers.

A key feature of the ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme is the highlighting of best practice fleets, which are then used to fly the flag for at-work driving safety at seminars, conferences and shows both locally and nationally. In addition a number of local authorities have organised special workshops to deliver the ‘safe driving’ message to businesses in their areas.

The existing council policy means that all employees must successfully complete a ‘Council Driver Assessment’ before operating a council vehicle. Assessments are carried out by one of six trained assessors. Following the initial session, drivers are subject to further annual checks and assessment. The assessment process covers: driver licence checks, eyesight checks, a 45-minute practical driving session and the provision of tips and information on safe driving.

The assessment programme is constantly under review with the aim to continually refresh the information provided and implement improvements. Any driver found to be at fault in a crash or guilty of a road traffic offence must go through the assessment process again. Drivers new to Gateshead Council must also complete an extended driving induction.

Results of the driver assessment form part of the information used to risk assess each individual driver. Accident records are also monitored as well as driving offences/endorsements. If a driver is regarded to be ‘high risk’, then targeted interventions are implemented including driver training.

The safe-driving initiative, which was introduced in 2006, also includes:

All drivers carrying out daily checks of vehicles before taking to the road.

The completion of daily vehicle log records with all journeys accounted for and authorised by line managers.

Special safe driving briefing sessions for employee under 24 years old.

An outreach programme to visit users of local authority minibuses to ensure that knowledge of loading, seat restraints and passenger assistance is continually improved.

Alasdair Tose, transport services manager, said: “A number of factors have led to a near 30% decrease in fleet accidents over the past three years. Contributing to this have been our driver assessment/training initiatives, better driver communication and improved vehicle safety features with, for example, all new vehicles fitted with 56 mph speed limiters.

“By reducing our accident record we are saving taxpayers money and ensuring that service levels within the authority’s area continually improve as valuable time is not spent on dealing with the aftermath of an incident.”

“Through the processes we have introduced and, crucially, communication with employees to explain the reasons behind the safe-driving programme, we have changed driving culture within the council.”

“We are delighted to be recognised as a ‘business champion’ and will continue to strive to promote road safety at both a local and national level. I hope the initiatives that we have introduced and the success we have had in improving our fleet safety will encourage other businesses to take action.”

‘Driving for Better Business’ programme manager Caroline Scurr said: “Gateshead Council is at the forefront of promoting road safety. As ‘business champions’ local authorities have a crucial role to play in occupational road risk management not only within their own organisations but by using their relationships with businesses in their areas to promote safe driving.”