Dubbo City Council is increasing staff awareness of safe driving and operating procedures and reducing vehicle damage and personal injury through its Safe Driving Policy.
Located in the centre of New South Wales, Dubbo is a service city with a catchment population of over 120,000 people.
Introduced in 2006 the Safe Driving Policy is a model of best practice that organisations can use when educating staff in road safety.
Fleet Services Manager Steve Colliver said the Safe Driving Policy has significantly reduced the number of driver at fault claims in Council’s fleet.
“The policy’s impact was immediate,” Steve Colliver said. “In 2006/2007, heavy vehicle driver at fault claims reduced from 100 per cent to 86 per cent and light vehicle driver at fault claims decreased from 82 per cent to 63 per cent.”
A key element of the policy is the dialogue between the Road Safety Officer, Manager of Fleet Services and the Safety Systems Coordinator. The policy has encouraged regular meetings between these managers and an increased involvement of the Road Safety Officer in incident reporting and staff education processes.
“As designers of the policy, we were committed to producing an active document, not a stand alone policy,” Steve Colliver said. “It is a proactive approach to addressing safe driving among Council’s staff.”
In addition to the policy, an e-learning process has been introduced to keep staff and others up to date with changes to road safety requirements, as well as regular reviews of damage costs and injury consequences.
Road Safety Officer Kristine Long said the e-education process comprises innovative email activities designed to inform Local and State Government staff of any issues related to the Safe Driving Policy.
“Each week I send out an email with road safety information and questionnaires designed to test everybody’s knowledge of the road rules,” Kristine Long said. “It is important for everybody to keep their road knowledge current, particularly when new rules are introduced. This is one of the reasons this policy is getting attention from other areas of Government – it’s simple and it works!”
The Safe Driving Policy recently took out the Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety category of the New South Wales Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) Awards. The Awards are held each year to recognise excellence in innovation, development and management of Local Government and public works projects.
For further information contact Kristine Long on 0417 667 984, or Steve Colliver on
0407 328 796.
