Driver driving his car safely on the road

Driver Safety Program

Driver Safety Program: Reducing Driving Risk

Background

According to research conducted by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, vehicle deaths account for 13% of death for males aged 15 to 44; second only to suicide. This risk is significant to any organisation. Do you have a driver safety program as part of your workplace risk management?

The Case for Reducing Driving Risk

Even more staggering, is that vehicles are the number one cause of death at work, accounting for 65% of all workplace fatalities.

Driving incidents which do not prove fatal result in an average of 5 weeks off work and a workers compensation costs of $9,000 or more.

Finally, nearly 60 bystanders have been killed in the last 10 years by people driving work-related vehicles. These are customers, visitors, members of the public.

Without a doubt driving is one of the most significant WHS risks in your business.

How do you currently manage this risk?

In all likelihood, you mainly rely on the numerous engineering controls that come as standard in the modern fleet, supplemented by your drivers experience. For monitoring and supervision, you rely upon the plethora of fixed speeding and red light cameras, along with the services of your state or territory police.

For the most part, this probably serves you reasonably well. However, it doesn’t take into account drivers who have learned bad habits, make poor decisions for a range of reasons, or who make errors.

Training and Behaviour Options

There are a range of training and behavioural options available. For a long time, defensive driving was the solution to managing driving risk. Unfortunately, subsequent research showed mixed results with some studies showing drivers became over confident after completing the training and actually increased their risk taking behaviours.

Some organisations have gone down the paid incentive path, however this too has mixed results, often costing the organisation money before and after incidents.

OSHEM Solutions’ Safer Drivers Program

The “Safer Drivers Program” acknowledges that your drivers generally know how to drive safe. It recognises that they drive the safest cars we have ever seen. Instead, it helps your drivers to identify the aspects of their driving which are unsafe and encourages them to consciously make a decision to change.

The program also includes an assessment of how your organsational culture and management actions which could be contributing to driver risk taking.

Research shows that the processes used in our program are more successful at reducing the number and severity of fleet accidents than customised driver skills training, safety awareness campaigns and even paid incentives.

We are so confident that it works, we provide a guarantee. Contact us to find out more.

Contact Us

If you would like to know more about the OSHEM Solutions’ “Safer Drivers Program”, or any of the other WHS consultant services we provide, call 1300 657 279 or Contact Us by email.

Men's mental health: Two young men with pretend mustaches

November: Men’s Mental Health

Workplace Mental Health

November is Men’s Month

It’s that time of year when various brave souls grow a mo’ to raise money for a bro’. Yes, it’s Movember. Now celebrated throughout the world, Movember is arguably the most publicised and successful men’s health campaign ever and workplace mental health is a growing area of concern for employers.

November is also the month that we celebrate International Men’s Day. A day to focus on boys’ and men’s health, promote improvement in gender relations and celebrate the positive role models males can be in society and the workplace.

We therefore thought it was a good time of the year for us to dig into the national data and find out what we can all do to improve the safety of young working men as part of a workplace mental health program.

Data Crunching

To do this we accessed the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s, Leading Causes of Death data. We identified the top 20 causes for males aged 15-24. We also identified the top 20 causes for males aged 25-44. Due to the similarities, we added the data to identify the top 3 across the total age range.

Top 3 Causes of Death

The top 3 causes of death for males aged 15 to 44 are

  • Suicide 23%
  • Land Transport 13%
  • Accidental Poisoning 10%

Reducing Risk

Mental health is the topic of much debate for policy makers and the media. Unfortunately, it has been for some time now. It’s staggering to think that nearly a quarter of all male deaths 15 to 44 die at their own hand. For 15 to 24 year olds this rises to over 29%. Clearly this problem has no simple solution but that shouldn’t stop us from acting. What has this got to do with work?

It’s well documented that work plays a significant role in a person’s sense of self-worth. Like school, work can be a source of new supportive friendships but it can also be a source of bullying. Work pressures or sense of failure can absolutely contribute to a suicide. The workplace can even be the location that someone chooses for their suicide, causing terrible trauma to co-workers. Due to the influence our work has on us all, it can be a valuable weapon in the battle against mental ill-health and the resultant risk of suicide.

Here’s some questions to consider about your workplace:

  • Have your supervisors and managers provided with the necessary development to ensure they have the skills to respectfully obtain the best from their people?
  • Have you implemented policies and procedures to minimise the risk of bullying and harassment? Do you monitor and verify that controls are working? Are all reports investigated in a professional manner?
  • Are roles, complaint processes and escalation pathways clearly defined and readily accessible?
  • Does your Health & Safety consultation arrangement (e.g. WHS committee) have mental health within its documented scope?
  • Do you include psychological risk in your risk assessments – e.g. risk of claustrophobia in confined spaces or acrophobia when working at height, how about including mental trauma as a potential consequence, such as for bank works who are involved in a robbery or lone workers who could be the victim of a verbally or physically assaulted?
  • Do you consider mental health risk to workers as part of business decision making – e.g. ensuring open and honest communication and support throughout down-sizing, considering the extra workload on workers when not replacing people who leave, considering work-life balance when modifying shift arrangements, avoiding redundancy leading up to Christmas holidays, etc.
  • Are there Human Resources or other specialists support roles within the business who have the expertise to assist your people in tough times?
  • Does your organisation have a well-resourced and communicated Employee Assistance Program?

This is not an exhaustive list of actions to take to improve mental health in your workplace but it’s certainly a start.

In future articles, we will consider how the workplace can manage the next two biggest risks, vehicle use and hazardous chemicals.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about how OSHEM Solutions can assist you with a range of risk management programs, call 1300 657 279 or Contact Us by email.

What is Safe Design | OSHEM Solutions

What is Safe Design

An Introduction to Safe Design

What is Safe Design?

Sometimes referred to as “safety in design”, this is the discipline of identifying risks (typically to constructors, end-users and maintainers) and eliminating them, or integrating control measures to minimise them, during the design process.

Why should I implement safety into my design processes?

Besides the opportunity to minimise delays, reduce the risk of injury or death to users, and improve client satisfaction, Safe Design is a legal requirement under the WHS Act. Section 22 of the Act requires designers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that a structure is designed to be without risks to the health and safety of persons who construct the structure, use the structure as a workplace, or carry out any reasonable foreseeable activity.

Who is considered a designer under the Act?

A designer is anyone whose work involves preparing sketches, plans or drawings for a structure, including anyone who makes variations to a plan or otherwise changes a structure. This could be the designer, the constructor, or even the client in some instances.

Other examples include architects, building designers, engineers, building surveyors, interior designers, landscape architects, town planners, and specialist designers, such as those who design ventilation, electrical systems, or drainage.

It should be noted that if you modify a design without consulting the designer, you take on the WHS legal obligations of a designer.

What is the scope of the Safe Design risk assessment?

Safe Design considers the whole of life-cycle, from construction through to demolition and disposal. It’s often best to schedule multiple risk assessments throughout the design process to consider these different aspects.

When do I need to start Safe Design?

It’s a current requirement of WHS law and was actually included in previous laws in most jurisdictions of Australia.

In terms of when to schedule it in your design process, risks should be identified throughout, starting at concept development. At this early stage, risk management may contribute to decisions about intended use(s), location, and proposed materials.

What if I’m a constructor, not a designer?

Under WHS regulations, you must consult with the designer, so far as is reasonably practicable, to determine how health and safety risks to you and your people, arising from their design, can be eliminated or minimised.

You must also provide the designer with any hazard information that you have been provided by the client, or identified through other means (e.g. surveys, testing, etc.).

Finally, as previously mentioned, you must ensure that you do not modify the design without first consulting the designer. The designer will consider any health & safety implications of your suggested changes before giving you the go ahead.

Want to know more?

If you want to know more about Safe Design or need assistance to implement this or other WHS legal requirements in your organisation, call OSHEM Solutions on 1300 657 279 or Contact Us by email.