September has not only been the back-to-school month for companies whose business relies on vehicles, but also a period for balancing the different activities associated with their commercial operation and reviewing their readiness in terms of roadworthiness, safety and compliance.
A study on compliance inspections carried out on drivers’ hours and an RSA investigation on bus conditions in Ireland have revealed that the number of inspections into the verification of fleet compliance is considerable to the extent that companies need to have a preventive compliance strategy and never compromise safety in order to generate savings. But another inspection campaign, conducted this time by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) of Ireland, targeting risk assessment processes, has revealed that 48% of Irish companies do not have a vehicle risk programme covering risk assessment related to their activities.
This latter campaign focussed on dedicated inspections carried out between April 9 and April 20, 2018 and published in September. In that period of time 145 inspections focussing on transport and vehicles risk have been conducted in different activity sectors, with Transport and Storage, Manufacturing and Wholesale and Retail being the most prominent. A second round of 149 inspections was conducted up until June and also counted in the results.
Driving for work was actually considered in 229 out of a total of 294 inspections as a relevant activity, but only for 49% of these companies was driving for work actually addressed in their safety statement. Despite working with vehicles being considered a high risk activity, a considerable proportion of workplaces still do not fully appreciate the statistical evidence, while a consistently high percentage (46%) of fatal incidents are connected with vehicle use.
Despite the stress made by all organisations involved and the results yielded by the different studies and the actions taken by these road safety and health and safety authorities, a lot more commitment is needed by employers in order to tackle risks related to the use of vehicles, as well as more effort needed in the management of such activities.
During the whole month of October, free driving for work seminars will be conducted by the RSA and the HSA in collaboration with An Garda Síochána, to outline legal requirements for companies regarding fleet and vehicle management, including information on best practices and how to manage drivers and provide guidance in risk management. The first two appointments were on the 4th and 5th of October, but there are two more left, they are for the 24th of October in Fota Island Resort in Cork and the 27th in Leopardstown Pavilion in Dublin.
