The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents will focus on the two biggest causes of work-related fatalities at a major conference in May.
Road accidents involving someone who is at work at the time and transport accidents which happen on work premises account for hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries between them each year.
RoSPA's Practical Transport Solutions conference on May 14 will address both issues, aiming to provide practical advice on managing the risks associated with the use of work vehicles, whether on public roads or occupational sites.
The conference, in association with the Health and Safety Executive, will be held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, at the National Exhibition Centre, alongside Safety & Health Expo, Europe's largest annual health and safety exhibition.
Marcia Davies, head of the HSE's injuries reduction programme, will give the keynote address focusing on the delivery of safety responsibilities.
Roger Bibbings, RoSPA's occupational safety adviser, will outline the ethical and business case for managing occupational road risk, as well as the legal perspective, including the potential for corporate manslaughter prosecutions after road deaths.
A presentation by Carol Grainger, the HSE's workplace transport programme manager, will include a focus on loading bays.
Practical advice will come from Nathan Davies, RoSPA health and safety consultant, on assessing risks, and Vince Murphy, RoSPA managing consultant, on changing behaviour and culture. Shelly Stretton, assurance manager at Birse Rail Ltd, will talk about learning from operational experience, including accident investigations.
Case studies will be provided by Cliff Cheeseman, training manager at Tesco.com, and Gary Wain, transport manager at Radius Systems Limited.
Roger Bibbings said: "Road accidents and workplace transport accidents are the biggest causes of work-related death in the UK. Road accidents that involve someone who is at work at the time are estimated to claim the lives of between 800 and 1,000 people each year, and provisional figures for 2007/08 reveal that 65 workers were killed in workplace transport accidents, with thousands more injured.
"The Practical Transport Solutions conference will highlight a series of transferable safety tools that can be used in the management of vehicles at work – both on the road and on site."
See www.rospa.com/events/transportsolutions/ for full conference details, including booking information, or email events@rospa.com or call 0121 248 2120.
More information about Safety & Health Expo is available at www.safety-health-expo.co.uk