Why video telematics the next step in tackling driver distraction
In an age where vehicles have become mobile laptops and the need for humans to access information and keep up to date at any given time, drivers have never been more distracted in our lifetime than they are today. Add speed to the equation, and your vehicle effectively becomes a large bullet with severe consequences should an accident occur.
In New Zealand, distracted and speeding drivers made up 39.8% of all fatal crashes in 2013. The social costs in per-crash terms, is estimated at $4,582,600 per fatal crash and $857,000 per reported serious crash. Considering that there were 25 workplace driving related fatalities and 1505 workplace driving injuries in 2013, the updated Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 looks to ensure that organisations have mitigated or minimised risks to health and safety and provide a duty of care for their workers.
Ignoring the new act is no longer an option as the penalties for a manager failing to address risks within their organisation now involves serious jail time or crippling fines. The penalties have been broken up into 3 categories*:
Category 1: Reckless Conduct
This applies to a person who has a health and safety duty and, without reasonable excuse, engages in conduct that exposes an individual to a risk of death, severe injury or serious illness, and is reckless as to the risk. The maximum penalty for a person in control of a business or undertaking (PCBU), or an officer of that business, is $600,000. An individual worker can be fined $300,000. Individuals can also face up to five years in prison. Businesses can be fined up to $3 million*.
Category 2: Failure Exposing to Serious Risk
This applies to a person who fails to comply with their health and safety duty, where the failure exposes an individual to a risk of death, serious injury or severe illness. The maximum fine is $300,000 for an individual PCBU or officer and $150,000 for a worker. Companies face a maximum fine of $1,500,000.
Category 3: Failure
This applies to a person who fails to comply with their health and safety duty. The fine maximum is $100,000 for an individual PCBU or officer and $50,000 for a worker. Companies face a maximum fine of $500,000.
*Extract from the Health and Safety Legislation 2015
What managers can do to ensure they have done their due diligence is create a health a safety policy for their workplace that captures the areas of the new act where their workplace may fall short if an accident occurred. Giving your staff the tools and training to practice good health and safety procedures will also see organisation fall within the law.
Nind Electrical Group utilises GPS Fleet Management technology to streamline their driver health and safety practices and to manage their staff and fleet efficiently. GPS Fleet Management gives Nind Electrical complete visibility on their driver behavior and also helps them locate distressed drivers should an accident occur. "Our staff that work in the dairy business are often out in remote areas. If they get stuck, or have been on a site for an unusually long period of time, then the foreman or Branch Manager can phone the staff member to check that they are ok." – Steve Winter, General Manager.
To help organisations understand the new laws coming into effect on 4th April 2016, Teletrac Navman has created an ebook to help you get up to speed and compliant. Download your free version today!