IOSH demands employer action on road safety

The call from IOSH has come as a new charter is being piloted in the UK around work-related road safety. The National Work‑Related Road Safety Charter pilot establishes a national standard for employers who require people to drive or ride for work, covering HGVs, vans, cars, motorcycles, e‑cycles and cycles.

It is part of a raft of new measures in the Government’s new road safety strategy, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads by 65 per cent by 2035.

With an estimated one in three road traffic fatalities involving someone travelling for work purposes, IOSH believes businesses must do more. While the Institution has welcomed the pilot, it believes that work-related road traffic incidents should be included as a reporting requirement under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).

Ruth Wilkinson, head of policy and public affairs at IOSH, said: “Work shouldn’t cost lives. As part of health and safety law, employers have a clear legal and moral duty of care that extends beyond the physical workplace, and covers all work activities – including driving and riding for work. It includes driving your own vehicle when using it for business, and it can include commuting to and from work if you are travelling to a location that is not your normal place of work. Preventing harm and protecting people on the road is part of protecting people at work — and business leaders must act now.”

The Charter is designed to help organisations in both the public and private sectors reduce work‑related road risk by promoting good practice, clear accountability, and compliance with existing legislation.

Ruth added: “The Charter is a decisive step forward. It sets expectations for board‑level oversight, competent risk management, and robust controls across all vehicle types — from HGVs and vans to motorcycles, e‑cycles and cycles. Good practice must be non‑negotiable: fit‑for‑purpose and safe vehicles; safe scheduling that eliminates fatigue and allows enough time for a safe journey; competent, fit and capable drivers and riders; zero tolerance for distraction and impairment; and data‑driven monitoring of incidents and near misses. Compliance with the law is the floor, not the ceiling.”

IOSH emphasises that employer leadership is essential to driving down work‑related road harm. That means embedding work-related road risk in health and safety management systems and risk assessments and treating it with the same seriousness as onsite risks. Managers should also consider alternatives to driving, for example train travel or video- and tele-conferencing. As part of any robust management system, arrangements should be in place for drivers and riders to report incidents and near misses so that lessons can be learned and action take to prevent reocurrence.