Driving for Better Business is a free to access government-backed National Highways programme, delivered in partnership with RoadSafe, to help employers in the private and public sectors reduce work-related road risk, protecting staff who drive or ride for work, and others who they may share the road with.
For those who manage occupational road risk, there is a lot to learn, and a lot to communicate to drivers. DfBB shares resources, provides support and encouragement, and help find any gaps in current operations.
Driving for work is one of the highest-risk activities that many employees undertake, whether they drive a commercial vehicle, a company car or make occasional work journeys in their own vehicle. As the gig economy continues to grow, this also means those who ride for work as well as those who drive. It is also a significant cost to the business. Employers that manage this issue well have peace of mind that they are safe, legally compliant, are regarded by staff as better places to work, and perform at a much higher level of efficiency than those that do not.
Some one in three road collisions in Britain involves someone driving as part of their job – plus many more involving people travelling to or from their place of work. The Health and Safety at Work Act requires employers to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their activities when at work. This applies when driving in the same way as it does in the workplace.
Legal responsibility for driver safety sits at the top of the company in the same way that any other occupational health and safety issue does but, in addition to this, failure to manage it correctly is increasingly going to have an impact on a company’s ability to win new work.
There is clearly a strong business case for managing work-related road safety. Fewer road incidents mean fewer days lost to injury; fewer repairs to vehicles with vehicles out of action; fewer missed orders and overall reduced running costs. Now is the time to become better informed and start getting the benefits of better practice.
Driving for Better Business has engaged with thousands of businesses, which collectively employ millions of staff, in its mission to improve the levels of compliance for those who drive or ride for work by demonstrating the significant benefits of managing work-related road risk more effectively.
Some of their stories are shared – including the challenges they faced, how they met those challenges, and the benefits they’ve seen because of engaging with the free Driving for Better Business programme – on the DfBB website:
The DfBB mission is to improve the levels of compliance for all those who drive or ride for work by sharing good practice and demonstrating the significant business benefits of managing work-related road risk more effectively.
As well as engaging with business, DfBB also partners with commercial organisations who are actively engaged in improving work-related road safety and risk management. Typically, they supply driver and vehicle risk management products and services to fleet operator clients. They are organisations that can add value to the Driving for Better Business community by sharing resources, expertise, support and thought leadership. Partner values support improvements in work-related road safety and risk management, and they will promote Driving for Better Business throughout their own customer networks.
