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"In the past 10 years the regime for professional truck drivers has tightened and it's improved efficiency - businesses are saying 'the regulations have become burdensome, but it's making us a more professional organisation'," continues Walsh. "It's not happened below 7.5t, but those businesses that have a tighter standard - standards of management not standards of driving - are better managing the way people work."
One of the report's authors, Shaun Helman, says that although the report was produced for the Metropolitan Police Service to consider, it could move the debate on. "You never really know with these reports, it depends who picks up on it," he tells BusinessCar.
An interesting suggestion from the report regarding the police's role in implementing any national standard is that they should be feeding details of offences committed by at-work drivers back to employers, with the TRL recommending the police explore ways of making this happen. Although it admitted that there would be technical and data issues to overcome, the report says police are in "an ideal position to engage with the relevant parties involved". This is a move the BVRLA endorsed, but also called for road traffic accidents to be included in the Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR), something they are currently specifically excluded from, unlike all other at-work incidents. "The Government is currently consulting on the future of the RIDDOR and we will be calling for road accidents to be brought into scope," says Lewis.
The key for introducing standards, says Walsh, is enforcement, which can come internally, if a firm understands the benefits, rather than externally. "Improved safety is a result of good business management - it's not being done because people are being killed and injured on the roads, it's because people want to improve efficiency."
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