Department for Transport encourages haulage on safety techniques.

hgv road safetyWith a large proportion of Britain’s supply chain made up of small to medium size enterprises (SMEs), Brake, the road safety charity, is encouraging any organisation working with small businesses to help spread the road safety message, and has the backing of the Department for Transport.

Brake wants to achieve this through a series of free/low-cost seminars and webinars aimed at freight couriers and road haulage outfits, along with any employer using vehicles, aimed at raising awareness of Brake’s ‘Essential guide for SMEs’.

Lowering road risk is an essential step for any business with staff who drive as part of their job – road crashes by those at-work are estimated to cost UK employers somewhere in the region of £2.7 billion a year. Improved reputation, staff morale, less wasted time, and lower insurance premiums are all benefits businesses could see simply through preventing crashes, bumps, and scrapes.

The various events will raise awareness of the more prominent risks associated with driving, responsibilities of the employers in terms of managing those risks and benefits they can derive from doing so effectively, and will also offer guidance on practical examples of implementation.

The events will aim to address practical, inexpensive steps which SME’s can implement to save money, and avoid the obvious ruin a crash can cause. The following events will draw on the knowledge developed through Brake’s Fleet Safety Forum, which shares best practice case studies amongst a variety of different fleet employers:

Are your drivers working for you? 12 December 2013: free one-hour webinar on influencing driver behaviour to improve safety and cost efficiency.
Are your vehicles working for you? 30 January 2014: free one-hour webinar on ensuring the safety of your large vehicles.
Big savings for small businesses. 6 February 2014, London & 5 February 2014, Manchester: one-day seminars on the basics and benefits of addressing at-work road safety.

Participants of either of the free seminars are able to sign-up for the one-day seminar for a half price rate of £27.50 + VAT, and delegates of all events will receive a complimentary copy of the accompanying guidance report.
Stephen Hammond, Minister for Road Safety, said: “The UK has one of the best road safety records in the world and improving this record remains a top priority for the Government. That is why we have increased fines for using a mobile at the wheel, made it easier for the police to tackle bad driving behaviour and we are looking at how we can improve young driver safety. Brake’s webinars are a useful contribution towards lowering incident rates in the workplace. I welcome anything like this which helps improve driver safety and saves UK business unnecessary costs.”

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