British Telecom (BT) Wins Competition for Road Safety at Work in the EU

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has awarded BT in a competition on work related road safety.

This is part of ETSC’s project called ‘Preventing Road Accidents and Injuries for the Safety of Employees’ (PRAISE). PRAISE aims to increase road safety in the work context and ‘praise’ best practices in order to help employers secure high road safety standards for their employees. It is estimated that in Europe six out of ten work accidents resulting in death are road crashes, including both crashes while driving for work and commuting crashes.

The ‘PRAISE Award’ was presented to BT at yesterday’s Brunch seminar in Brussels for taking on the road safety challenge responsibly. ETSC also recognised the efforts made by other employers to improve work related road safety. Entrants included 16 companies, both SMEs and bigger employers, that have all contributed to reducing their employees’ road risk in recent years.

Since BT’s Health and Safety Group identified driving as its biggest and most expensive risk in 2003 the company has developed a strategic program leading to a range of ground-breaking initiatives to manage driver safety. As BT’s Safety Advisor for travel and transport, Tony Holt said: ‘Key to BT’s road safety management is the lesson learnt that there are no silver bullets in fleet safety’. For this reason BT has taken a holistic approach based on a clear application of well researched policies, procedures and processes. BT’s road safety initiatives include for example: extensive driver assessment and training, collision investigations, safe vehicle selection, and trials of technological interventions such as telematics.

Yesterday BT exchanged best practice with other companies committed to road safety and creating new business opportunities at ETSC’s PRAISE Brunch Seminar. ETSC’s Executive Director Antonio Avenoso said: ‘I congratulate BT on their great efforts to make a difference in road safety. We hope this award will spur other employers on in the next years to integrate road safety in their working practice. Introducing road safety measures also makes good business sense’.

For more details about ETSC and PRAISE, see: www.etsc.eu