A water company is tackling road risk head-on
Anglian Water, which serves the needs of around six million industrial, commercial and domestic customers in the East of England, is rolling out its new road risk policy early this year (2007).
Providing a launch pad for the policy's implementation was a series of Road Risk Road Shows for which the company teamed up with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
After a year of planning, road shows visited 11 locations throughout the Anglian Water region and were attended by 1,300 employees.
During the events, nearly 1,100 of the participants were able to attend Driving Safely seminars led by RoSPA driver trainers.
The seminar content was designed to be hard-hitting, informative and fun. It featured some memorable and descriptive video clips from countries such as the UK, the US and Ireland, showing both real and simulated accident footage.
Paul Turpin, Anglian Water Safety Adviser, said: "Nowadays we are deluged with information and if you want something to have a real impact or to stand out from the norm, it's got to be different and attract attention.
"It was a difficult balance to strike. We didn't want to upset people and also recognised that there were likely to be people attending the seminar who had been personally affected by road safety issues."
Anglian Water's Occupational Health and Safety team was available before and during the seminars to answer questions and address issues that surfaced as a result of the presentations.
Paul said: "The net outcome was a hard-hitting, thought-provoking presentation that got people thinking and hopefully questioning their own driving behaviour.
"This, coupled with the overall road show itself, means that when the road risk policy starts to get rolled out, our employees will know why it's happening, what the benefits are and how they can contribute."
Anglian Water's road risk policy identifies three key areas:
1. greater safety and understanding of driver/vehicle/journey issues leading to;
2. safer drivers, fewer collisions and greater efficiency which, in turn, leads to;
3. improved profitability, staff morale and a better public image.
Paul said: "We recognised that driving is one of the most hazardous activities undertaken by our staff. Just as we carry out risk assessments for work-related tasks, implement safe systems of work and train and supervise our staff, the company recognised that this should apply to driving as well.
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RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
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