Managing safety
Through our safety programme Injury Prevention we are committed to reducing injuries in the workplace and to our customers. Our safety principle is “If you cannot do it safely don’t do it”.
The Bus Safety Council chaired by the Managing Director of the UK Bus division leads the safety programme. The Safety Council establishes safety targets and initiatives at both bus division and company level and drives consistency in approach across the bus companies ensuring adoption of best practice.
| UK Bus safety performance 2007/ 2008 compared to the previous 12 months | |
|---|---|
| All injuries per 1,000 employees per year | -13% |
| Lost time injuries (over 1 day) per 1,000 employees per year | -14% |
| Passenger injuries per million miles | -1% |
| Vehicle collisions per million miles | -9% |
There were no employee or passenger fatalities during the past 12 months. However, consistent with previous years a number of third party fatalities occurred due to circumstances beyond our control. We deeply regret these incidents and continue to work to minimise their occurrence.
We are lobbying the Health and Safety Executive to avoid, wherever possible, the development of further drivein, reverseoff bus stations. We work actively with bus station landlords to identify ways to protect the safety of pedestrians and passengers. Raising pedestrian awareness is another focus. For example we work with local authorities to highlight areas where pedestrians frequently enter the road space.
Professional drivers should also regularly refresh their skills. To this end we have this year introduced a programme of Smith System Defensive Driving training which will be delivered to all our drivers. Applying the five keys of defensive driving will enable them to deal more effectively with unforeseen circumstances and this should help to reduce the number of incidents for which we are not responsible.
Injuries to our staff also arise from physical assaults. The number of physical assaults on staff continues to reduce. We have zero tolerance to assaults in the workplace and continue to do everything we can to reduce their occurence.
Reducing injuries to our employees
Through regular safety conversations, training, tool box talks and briefings, our employees are continually reminded of the need to act safely. We continue to seek better ways to deliver and reinforce the safety message.
This year we have introduced safety conversation themes on a monthly basis to provide a focused consistent communication programme. We also commissioned a DVD that will be shown to all managers and supervisors. Using actors to portray a potential reallife situation the DVD incorporates a powerful message on the consequences of unsafe behaviour and the importance of good safety management.
Bus passenger safety
Disappointingly our bus passenger injury rate has decreased only slightly this year. We are committed to reducing the passenger injury rate by equipping our drivers with the best training available to help them drive safely.
- In line with the introduction of new European legislation being introduced in September 2008 we are introducing new driver training standards. These incorporate continual professional development to ensure our driver’s skills are refreshed and messages such as safe driving continue to be reinforced.
- All UK bus drivers are now receiving training in the Smith System Defensive Driving programme that promotes anticipatory driving.
- We link complaints about drivers to the near miss reporting framework to allow us to identify and work with highrisk drivers.
- We analyse the root causes behind collisions: for example we examine shift patterns and driver experience.
- We investigate each passenger injury to understand root cause and reverse the increase we have seen this year.
- We are analysing the performance of all our operating companies to understand the key factors that contribute to good safety performance.
- We continue to seek ways to raise awareness and encourage our passengers to act more safely.