“As this case demonstrates, failure to do everything possible to keep employees safe can lead to appalling publicity and a massive fine.

“Every organisation with employees who drive for work needs to carry out a comprehensive risk assessment and do whatever they can to reduce risk. Otherwise the next conviction may well be for the unlawful death of a business driver.”

The conviction of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings comes as RoSPA marks the 15th anniversary of its Managing Occupational Road Risk (MORR) campaign.

Bibbings, who was the author of the 1996 discussion paper that helped launched the campaign, said: “We urge businesses and organisations to make 2011 the year in which they commit to regularly reviewing and improving their road safety arrangements.”

Managing occupational road risk – the hidden killer

It’s been 15 years since RoSPA launched its MORR campaign with the publication of a discussion paper in 1996.

In the absence of official statistics, the paper estimated that up to 25% of road deaths each year involved vehicles being driven by at-work drivers.

This amounted to more than 875 deaths, of which around 300 were associated with company cars and approximately 300 involved vans.

More follows on page three...