The IOC has submitted a response to the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) consultation on the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013, calling for work-related road traffic incidents to be recognised in the same way as other accidents in the workplace.

RIDDOR requires employers, the self-employed, and those in control of premises to formally report and keep records of serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and near-misses. However, it doesn’t currently require work-related road deaths to be RIDDOR-reportable.

Our response highlighted that driving for work is the single most hazardous activity employees undertake, with nearly a third (29%) of all fatalities on the UK’s roads involving people driving for work. This, alongside the fact that there is currently no way of collecting accurate information on how many people have been killed in work-related road incidents, means that changes should be made. We proposed that Government and the HSE should consider the road network as a ‘place of work’ and provide a facility for all work-related road fatalities and serious injuries to be recorded consistently in one single location. This would help businesses to:

• reduce the number of work-related road incidents; and
• provide learnings which could be shared to prevent further fatalities on the roads.