Preventing road risk in the workplace with the connected vehicle
Road accidents: 1era cause of death at work
On average, every year in France, 20,000 workplace accidents are road accidents. Road accidents remain the leading cause of death in the workplace, accounting for around 20% of fatal accidents.
Yes, the facts are appalling: 1 in 5 work-related fatalities occurs on the road!
Another alarming and significant figure for companies is that road-related accidents account for 5 million lost working days.
Faced with these sad facts, company managers are called upon to help prevent road risk.
Under the French Labor Code, the company manager is obliged to assess all risks to which employees are exposed, and to implement preventive measures.
Road risk prevention is an obligation for company managers:
When a company manager provides a vehicle to an employee for the performance of his or her employment contract, he or she has a safety obligation towards that employee. He must take all necessary measures to guarantee the safety of his employees.
If a lack of preventive measures in road travel causes a road accident at work, the employer can be held liable. This may include criminal prosecution.
The employer may be prosecuted for manslaughter or unintentional injury (Articles 121-3, 221-6, 222-19, R.625-2, R. 622-1 of the French Penal Code). If, through his or her failings, the employer has created or allowed to be created a dangerous situation which has made it possible for the accident to occur.
Despite these potentially serious consequences, company managers often find themselves at a loss when it comes to dealing with road risk. How can they have a clear vision of the driving habits of each employee?
On-board telematics provide a clear answer to this thorny question.
By means of a GPS box installed on board each vehicle, it is possible to collect a large amount of information in real time, not only on the vehicle itself, but also on the driver (identity of the person behind the wheel, driving behaviour, etc.). In terms of driving behavior, on-board telematics enable us to constantly analyze 3 fundamental indicators illustrating the type of driving each person does:
- Braking
- Curves
- Acceleration.
By collecting, processing and analyzing this data, we can define the profile of each driver and identify accident-prone behaviors.
At Optimum Automotive, a European specialist in connected vehicles, driver profiles are presented in the form of an "Eco-Index" rating.
Initially, a score of 100 is assigned to each driver; this score then gradually deteriorates as a function of the driving events mentioned above. The company manager thus has a Dahsboard on which he can visualize the driving behavior of his employees and very quickly identify risky behaviors for which preventive actions should be considered. In addition to the Eco-Index rating, the Optimum Automotive platform provides an estimate of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. In addition to the number of claims, drivers' driving behavior has a major influence on these two indicators.
Training and consolidation are the other two pillars of road risk prevention.
Once accident-prone behaviors have been identified, the company manager is obliged to "implement appropriate preventive measures". Driver awareness-raising and training are effective ways of reducing the number of accidents.
Training can take a variety of forms, from practical on-track courses with an accredited trainer to e-learning courses.
Optimum, for example, has entered into a partnership with Code Rousseau to optimize driver behavior on the road. The EASY COACH e-learning platform comprises 7 test modules, each with 20 MCQs. The program includes 30 multimedia courses on 10 themes, covering driving rules, driving behavior and road risk prevention. Each module is marked and corrected as it progresses.
But training is not enough. As the saying goes: "If you don't do what comes naturally, it will come back". Road behaviour doesn't change overnight. So how can we avoid the return of bad habits?
Consolidate what you've learned! To ensure that the lessons learned during training are not forgotten over time, it is essential to maintain awareness over the medium and long term. The Optimum platform makes it possible to create and run challenges based on various criteria (Eco-Index rating, CO2 emissions, fuel savings, etc.). These challenges encourage emulation and help to preserve the learning acquired over the long term.