Driving risk-management solutions

Transport is definitely a major economic driver. It ensures that goods get to market, enables the delivery of services and takes people where they need to go. But this moving marvel isn’t without its risks … especially when it comes to driving.

In recent years there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on an organisation’s responsibilities towards the health and safety of its employees … which has led to a greater level of worker well-being across all industries.

In terms of driving, according to Victoria Bourne, consultant to Driving Risk Management*, this has led to the Health and Safety Executive (the national independent watchdog
for work-related health, safety and illness across Great Britain’s workplaces) developing legislation to ensure that employers have the appropriate policies, procedures and training in place, to ensure the welfare and safety of their employees when driving …

However, as our editor Charleen Clarke once wrote: “Unlike just about everything else in life, the Brits take health and safety very, very, very seriously. So much so that their obsession with health and safety is bordering on the absurd …”

Driving her point home, Clarke notes (in her piece entitled Barmy health and safety army) that a British politician, by the name of Colin Charlwood, even declared the English Riviera’s famous palm trees a danger to the public. “It’s a bit like keeping tigers – they are beautiful to look at, but you wouldn’t want them wandering the streets,” he commented. “What if one of those leaves caught a child in the eye, for example?”

And Clarke says it best: “Palm trees are like tigers? I rest my case …” But even street-wandering palm trees would have to be wary of the dangers presented by transport, and South Africa can take a leaf out of Britain’s road safety book, as our country is tragically plagued by thousands of road deaths each year … driver risk management solutions might be just the way to go.

An international supplier of occupational risk management services and solutions (and a subsidiary of MICROmega), NOSA has expanded its risk-management services by partnering with the Canadian company AlertDriving, which (as NOSA puts it) is a pioneer in web-based driver risk management solutions.

NOSA adds that it has obtained a licence from AlertDriving to offer several e-learning courses, which can assist companies in identifying and mitigating the many risks associated with driving.

The following is on offer:

• Hazard perception evaluation: A predictive behaviour analysis tool designed to identify high-risk drivers by assessing their propensity to be involved in a collision. Based on each individual’s specific deficiencies, the programme assigns targeted training modules to mitigate a driver’s assessed risk;

• Defensive driver training: A programme that uses full-motion, real-life video footage (instead of cartoon-like computer animation) and a modular design; allowing clients to build a customised solution to target the most common causes of collisions; and

• Eco-friendly driver training: This course teaches drivers how to improve a vehicle’s fuel efficiency and reduce its carbon emissions by modifying driving habits.

According to NOSA, all its training programmes are based on the latest occupational risk-management principles. They equip employees with the knowledge and skills to reduce workplace incidents, create a healthier workplace and identify and manage environmental impacts.

Justin Hobday, managing director of NOSA, states that these courses provide a similar service to the SAMTRAC E-Learning Course, where the training is via an e-learning platform and permits students to access the course material via a smartphone, tablet or computer.

“This gives students the opportunity to be trained at their own convenience,” he points out. “Many companies have multiple branches or offices across South Africa and globally, thus the e-learning platform gives a consistent message to all employees, no matter where they are situated, without incurring the additional cost of travel and accommodation.”

Rob Martin, vice president of sales at AlertDriving, adds: “Our solutions are available globally and correspond with NOSA’s international offerings. We are excited to further expand internationally and look forward to providing NOSA with a world-class product to assist with its clients’ fleet risk management initiatives.”

Hobday concludes: “Just about every business experiences a risk associated with driving – from a driver in a fully-fledged transport company or a salesperson visiting prospective customers, to an employee driving to work every day. NOSA has, therefore, added these e-learning courses to its service offering in order to equip its client base with a means to manage driver risk.”

* Driving Risk Management is a London-based company that provides occupational road safety courses, corporate fleet driver training and advice and guidance on developing a complete driving risk-management programme.