European OSHA Launches Website to Protect Road Transport Workers

People working in the road transport sector face many more risks than just the danger of having a collision – that is the message of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), which recently launched a new web site to help keep drivers safe.

 

 

Coinciding with the launch of the United Nation’s (UN) Decade of Action on Road Safety 2011-2020, EU-OSHA provides access to a series of reports and other resources to help meet the challenges of managing health and safety in the road transport sector. (WCxKit)

 

 

In 2009 more than a thousand lorry drivers died in crashes in Europe, 60% of them were light duty lorry drivers. Bicycle and motorcycle couriers, van and lorry drivers, chauffeurs, and bus and coach drivers are particularly at risk of dying in a road accident or suffering non-fatal injuries.

 

 

As well as death and injury in collisions, these workers face serious risks from handling loads, slips and falls from vehicles, exposure to vibration, and robbery and violence, among others. Yet making drivers in the road transport sector aware of the risks they face, and what they can do about them, can be challenging. Drivers generally operate alone, and they are often used to very independent ways of working. Most companies in the sector are small open-ended enterprises employing fewer than 10 workers, and many drivers are self-employed.

 

 

EU-OSHA’s new web section gives access to a wide range of resources, covering the risks faced by workers in the road transport sector, and practical examples, from across Europe and beyond, of campaigns and initiatives that have improved occupational safety and health (OSH) among drivers. Some of the material deals with the issues facing specific groups within the sector, such as delivery and despatch riders, taxi drivers, and drivers in road haulage and passenger transport.

 

 

Successful OSHA initiatives in road transport are generally those that take account of how the sector operates in practice. Advice and solutions need to be based on driver’s practical experience if they are to tackle the real problems effectively and engage drivers, including solutions that are developed by drivers for drivers. Working in partnership with employers, managers, vehicle operators, loading staff, and receivers and dispatchers of goods, as well as with the social partners and road safety organizations, has also proven itself effective.

 

 

The reports include a review of programs and campaigns to reach and influence the road transport sector on OSH matters, case studies of prevention practices covering road haulage and bus passenger transport, reviews of good practice guidance available for the taxi sector and courier activities by motorcycle and bicycle, and a review of road transport accidents.

 

 

A pair of fact sheets on campaigning and managing risks to drivers can be obtained in 24 languages at http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/factsheets.