New EU e-Guide To Improve Vehicle-Related Safety

The EU wants to reduce the overall rate of accidents at work by a quarter. Because work- related vehicle risks (WRVR) cause 29% of all fatal occupational accidents, tackling them effectively will help us to achieve this ambitious target.

Many good practices to avoid and reduce WRVR have already been implemented in the EU. Sharing them can help employers and workers to improve vehicle-related safety. So the European Commission has asked the VeSafe consortium to collect these practices and publish them online, in a so-called e-guide.

As well as many examples of good practice, this will provide an overview of relevant regulations and information on three key aspects of WRVR: safe driving for work, workplace transport safety and working on or near a road.

The result will be a one-stop shop for vehicle safety, covering all relevant issues in WRVR and their prevention. For ease of reference, good practices are to be classified by type of vehicle and the risks involved and will be an attractive resource for a wide range of users, including drivers, their employers and safety experts.

The e-guide is due to go live in 2014. Once all good practices have been collected and initial tests conducted, a trial involving selected stakeholders is planned for early 2014, prior to the full launch later in the year.

Do you represent one or more organizations with an interest in vehicle-related safety issues in the workplace?

To make an active contribution to this project, we invite you to submit examples of good practice from your professional experience and/or please e- mail annick.starren@tno.nl to keep updated on the development of the VeSafe e-guide.

Your support will help create a high-quality e-guide that improves vehicle-related safety!