HSE Plans Autumn Launch for Work-related Road Safety Guidance

The HSE has announced plans to publish its generic guidance for employers on work-related road safety this autumn. Speaking at the 'Best of the Best' conference, in association with the road safety charity Brake, Sharan Bains, head of work-related road safety policy at the Safety Policy Directorate for the HSE, highlighted the Executive's plans.

She said: "As long as there are no unforeseen glitches, we should be publishing the guidance in early September. The guidance is generic rather than detailed. It aims to alert employers to the issues they need to address when developing and implementing a risk management policy tailored to their particular circumstances."

The HSE is working in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, setting up a 'memorandum of understanding'.

Because the HSE does not have the facilities to deal with enforcing such guidelines, it may have to be enforced by the police, experts claim. In terms of reconciling road safety and health and safety law, Bains said the HSE would try to create a balance between accident prevention and risk prevention.

Additional challenges facing the Executive also include creating a balance between employer duties and employee personal responsibility.

Bains said the guidance would put employers and others on alert as to their duties under health and safety at work law, and raise the public profile and awareness of key issues. However, she insisted there would be no immediate changes as the industry would need time to "put its house in order", while the HSE also needed time to prepare.

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