RoSPA hosts forum to make occupational road risk a priority

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) recently hosted a forum of key stakeholder representatives and experts to help re-energise the management of occupational road risk (MORR) as a key risk management priority for UK plc.

More than 30 leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of road safety gathered at London’s St Bride Foundation where presentations were heard from three researchers – Nicola Christie and Heather Ward, from University College London, and Shaun Helman of the Transport Research Laboratory.

The trio were authors of an independent strategic review of MORR, which was commissioned by RoSPA with funding under the RoSPA/BNFL Scholarship Scheme, and discussed findings including data, interventions and policy initiatives.

They focused on issues surrounding data on the scale, severity and causes of work-related crashes, the lack of detailed studies on interventions and the lack of awareness of MORR outside higher-performing organisations.

Delegates also took part in workshops at the event, which was funded by distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl, to discuss the way forward for tackling MORR, ways to get more organisations involved and how to embed good practice.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA’s partnership consultant, who chaired the event, said: “The forum was a great success and the delegates really got involved and came up with several innovative ideas on how to progress this important agenda.

“MORR is the single biggest work-related safety issue for almost all UK businesses, with about a third of deaths on the road involving someone driving for work, so it is an issue which cannot be ignored. We hope that the event will have inspired everyone involved to think harder about ways in which they can enhance their influence and reassert the importance of MORR as a major element of health and safety at work.”

“Much progress has been made, although in recent years it has been more difficult to maintain momentum for change. But if we continue to stick at it and work more closely together, there is major scope for further reducing casualties as well as the costs – both human and financial – which work related road crashes impose on families, businesses, communities and the wider economy.”

RoSPA launched its pioneering MORR campaign in 1996, being the first organisation to reveal occupational road risk as the hidden killer on Britain’s roads.

To find out more about the strategic review of MORR, visit www.rospa.com/drivertraining/morr/info/morr-strategic-review.pdf