FLEETDRIVE s a ork
Vehicle crashes continue to be one of the leading causes of work-related deaths and injuries in Australia .
WORDS BY ANBY ALCOMENDAS
The Australian government ’ s road safety statistics recently reported that in 12 months ending in August 2021 , there were 1,138 road deaths — a 3.7 per cent increase from the same period last year . This puts the annual rate of deaths per 100,000 population at 4.4 percent — a 3.4 per cent increase from the same period in 2020 .
Meanwhile , according
Safe Work Australia , there were 183 worker fatalities in 2019 , 132 ( 72 %) of which were related to vehicles . Of these , 79 workers ( 43 %) were involved in a vehicle collision . Furthermore , 18 ( 46 %) bystander fatalities resulted from the actions of a worker or a fault in the workplace .
As of September 2021 , 89 Australian workers were killed at work as of September 30 , 2021 . 33 of these deaths are in the transport , postal , and warehousing industry .
This begs the question , “ how can we , as fleet managers , make vehicles a safer workplace not only for our drivers but for other road users as well ?”
ISSUE 31 OCTOBER 2021 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU 5