DRIVE SAFE!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2013 :: RMTnews 18 RMT member Barry West has been a health and safety rep for over 30 years in his native Cornwall and around the country and he is well known in the industry for his determination and tenacity. Over the years he has campaigned tirelessly on improving road driver safety and for that of passengers and other road users. Part of this campaign was to demand for many years that Network Rail provide passenger air bag in the vehicles supplied to employees. This paid off recently when RMT health and safety rep Steve Wallace based in Fort William wrote to Barry to thank him for his efforts as it had saved the life of a colleague. “I believe that because of previous deliberations by you at a recent road traffic accident inquiry, recommending air bags be fitted on the passenger side, prevented any injury being inflicted on our colleague. “As I work with the individual in the Fort William Ultrasonic Team I would like to offer you our thanks,” wrote Steve. Other areas covered by Barry include the safe selection of vehicles, making vehicles more visible to others, safe loading and securing of loads on vehicles, safe carriage of fuels and other chemicals, driver fatigue and managing occupational road risk. “Driver training and improved vehicles that have incorporated safety features to protect occupants and third parties are just some of the things that will help ensure our members return home safely to their families and friends,” Barry tells RMT News in his familiar Cornish brogue. He points out that Network Rail vehicles alone are involved in around 750 third party accidents every year costing typically around £4.5 million per annum. Barry says that driving is the most dangerous work activity that most people do and research indicates that about 20 people are killed and 250 seriously injured every week in crashes involving someone who was driving, riding or otherwise using the road for work purposes. HSE guidelines Driving at Work, state that “health and safety law applies to on-the- road work activities as to all work activities and the risks should be effectively managed within a health and safety system”. Therefore, employers must assess the risks involved in their staff’s use of the road for work and put in place all ‘reasonably practicable’ measures to manage those risks. Such measures will DRIVE SAFE! RMT member and long- standing safety campaigner Barry West talks to RMT News about the importance of road safety and saving lives