The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has revealed the 2017 winners of the ‘praise’ awards, in recognition of  improved road safety at work.

The large company award  winner was National Vehicle Distribution (NVD), a family-owned vehicle transportation and storage company in Ireland. 

ATF, a Belgian road construction company, won the small and medium-sized enterprise award and Jacobs, one of the world’s largest construction services firms, was highly commended by the award judges.

The winners were honoured at a conference and award ceremony in Brussels on October 24.

ETSC’s executive director Antonio Avenoso said: “This year’s inspiring award winners demonstrate that road safety of employees is not just a company’s responsibility, it also makes for good business.

“Praise award winners have shown time and again that company-wide road safety programmes reduce insurance and fleet costs, cut employee sick days and improve customer service.

“But companies, especially small and medium enterprises, often lack the resources and the knowledge to manage road safety more effectively.

“That’s why it’s crucial that the European Union, governments and local authorities offer the support that is so badly needed.”   

The winners are as follows:

Large company award: National Vehicle Distribution (NVD), Ireland

The PRAISE Awards judges (pictured) said: “NVD stood out in terms of their holistic approach to driver risk management.

“They have a huge focus on driver selection, training and ongoing management as well as strong evidence of daily interventions of a deterrent and enforcement nature with drivers to influence behaviour.

“A proactive company with a focus on safety, they learn from past incidents and find solutions to avoid them in the future.

“They also have clear performance targets and support positive reinforcement with a bonus system for drivers.”
 
Small and medium-sized enterprise award: ATF, Belgium

The PRAISE judges said: “ATF have made a wide range of interventions to improve work-related road safety in their business.

“Their employees are actively involved in road safety plans and procedures and management have clear and good communication with the drivers.”
 
Highly commended: Jacobs, UK and Ireland

The PRAISE judges said: “Jacobs have implemented a very successful driver safety management system with a clear focus on employee health.

“In particular, their innovative ‘Permit to Drive’ cards ensure that individual drivers are getting the risk assessment and training that they require.

“They have also given clear evidence of the positive effects of their management system, through a reduction in accidents and strong increase in compliance levels.”