A ROAD safety organisation is calling on the Government to force fleets to report details of serious road crashes involving employees driving on business in a bid to improve safety.

Brake is making the call as the Government decides whether to change current health and safety law to make such reporting a legal requirement.

Fleets were invited to give their views on proposals for changes to the review of Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) put forward by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC).

In 2001, the Work-Related Road Safety Task Group recommended that at-work road accidents be included in the regulations.

In response to the consultation, Dr Will Murray, a trustee of road safety charity Brake and research director at Interactive Driving Systems (IDS) wrote: ‘The current data leads to a major misunderstanding of some of the key risks. Reversing safety is a classic case, with the Department for Transport suggesting it is not a priority issue.

‘HSE data suggests reversing was a factor in 25% or more of fatalities involving vehicles. This data is backed by research from the University of Hudders- field which suggests that, particularly for trucks and vans in urban areas, reversing is a major road safety risk.’

The Health and Safety Executive is analysing responses to the review and will submit a report to the HSC by the end of the year.

For more information visit, http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse31.pdf