MORR™ : An International Comparisons Review
France
At present in France, road traffic accidents represents two thirds of occupational accidents and are the primary cause of death. In 1998, 900 persons were killed on the road in the course of work (Eurogip).
There is a study from Eurogip, based in France, which compares the status of work related driving development in a number of European countries. The report is titled, "Panorama of European risk on the road in companies". However its definition of work-related accidents includes commuting accidents. The report gives a short summary of actions taking place in each of the above countries as well as contact details for the main organisations involved in this work in each country.
The report stated that 'the road is the primary cause of death in Europe' [sic] and illustrated how each country's general road fatality statistics compared. [for France, the road death is only included if it is within 6 days on an accident occurring.]
France has embarked on a program to increase the involvement of private companies in road safety related to their use of vehicles. Agreements have been drawn up between government, insurance companies, the national occupational health fund and volunteer companies. The programs focus on motivating companies to undertake road safety programs by increasing the knowledge of the cost of road crashes to the company and by decreasing workers compensation and vehicle insurance premiums if programs are implemented. Haworth et al suggests that 'Some of the programs have concentrated on drink driving because of its large role in both work- and non-work-related road crashes in France'.
The French programme is documented in a publication titled "National Steering Committee For The Prevention Of Road Risk Incurred By Employees - Programme of Action 2000 - 2001" which is produced by t he "Occupational Accidents and Diseases Commission" of the National Health Insurance Fund for Salaried Employees (CNAM-TS) .
This document stated that 'the prevention of the road risk run by employees is a shared concern of the public authorities and the social security system, hence the need for both parties to pool their means, experience and methods' . The National Charter signed in December 1999 by the CNAM-TS and the DSCR (Road Safety and Road Traffic Branch) gives this partnership a framework that encompasses and ensures the coherence of the initiatives already undertaken and those scheduled for the future .
The objectives for the coming year were:
- to consolidate this establishment,
- to succeed with the experimentation,
- to learn lessons by establishing an experience feedback system,
- to best prepare the groundwork for generalisation.
At a national level - a Steering Committee, meeting annually, ensured the application of the areas of action set out in the charter and the follow-up of the resulting initiatives, primarily by proposing annual action programmes and ensuring both their follow-up and evaluation .
At the regional level, subsequent to the signing of the national charter, most of the regional health insurance funds decided to get involved in the process of constructing the "Road Safety Information and Resource Centres" set up by the Inter-departmental Delegate. The principle role of the road safety information and resource centres is "to assist those involved at local level implement the general areas of action defined at national level, to exchange experience, to train, and to provide advisory assistance as required".
At county level, the CRAMs and the General Social Security Health Insurance Funds (CGSS) have the competence to define the regional occupational risk prevention policies (including road risk). The County administrators are responsible for defining and applying the county road safety policies. To do this, they are required to submit a County Road Safety Plan.
Regional Experiments Launched With Firms
In this initial action phase, the aim was to experiment with a number of solutions, and to determine the advantages and limitations in order to lay the foundations for a more generalised application. It was with this in mind that the steering committee established regional pilot schemes, the idea being to have each volunteer region work on a specific theme unique to that region, in order to explore various awareness raising and practical initiatives e.g. creating road safety clubs, addressing commuter problems, SME's problems, training courses, evaluations and audits.
This document stated that there was no standard tool for applying 'good' prevention measures. The prevention plan must fall within the scope of the specific context, history and culture of the firm. In terms of action, the steering committee proposed as the first priority the production of an evaluation guide or tool intended for companies.
France has developed and published a number of documents and posters as a result of the regional exercise in awareness raising. (Le Risque Routier, Risque routier encouru par les salaries comprendre pour agir: Guide de'evaluation, accidents de la route: premiere cause d'accident mortel du travail, etc).
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