In March this year, the Government launched their new
‘ Think’ campaign, which aims to make driving for work safer. Its overarching message is: ‘Around 200 road deaths and serious injuries each week involve someone at work. THINK!’

And it does make you THINK, especially when you consider that, under existing health and safety law and the new Corporate Manslaughter Bill, companies can be held responsible for road accidents when employees are driving for work. “Our message to drivers is that good driving is also safe driving”, said Dr Stephen Ladyman, Transport Minister, “and employers must take responsibility formanaging the safety of their staff when out on the road”.

Drink driving is a tragic cause of far too many road accidents (560 deaths and 2,500 serious injuries a year). If a company can be shown not to have taken sufficient precautions, they can be held accountable when one of their drivers has an accident whilst over the drink drive limit. Not only could the driver lose their licence, but the company could lose their operator’s licence as well. However, there are products and processes that exist to prevent this.

The alcolock (also called interlock) is a device that requires a driver to take a breath test before the ignition of their vehicle can be switched on. They have been in use for some time in the USA, Canada and on the continent, and the UK Government is now ready to endorse them here. When the Department for Transport published their three year road safety review in February 2007, it stated: ‘There is no reason why employers could not fit interlocks (alcolocks) to their fleet of vehicles, and we will promote this as part of the driving for work programme.”

The alcolock provides not only a safe and subjective means to insure against drink driving, but also circumnavigates the problem of random testing within the workforce, and the issues this can raise in terms of perceived discrimination. If all vehicles are fitted with an alcolock, then all employees must take a breath test before driving. In addition, an alcolock has a strong educational element.

Many of us underestimate the effects of alcohol and consider ourselves safe to drive after one, two or maybe five drinks. ‘I’m fine’ is a well used and possibly lethal excuse to get behind the wheel. An alcolock clearly indicates where our limits lie, taking the decision out of the employee’s hands and providing a clear message by the company as to what is acceptable. It should be remembered that alcohol always impairs driving performance. It slows down reactions and affects the eyesight by blurring vision. Even at the legal driving limit, drivers are still 2.5 times more likely to have a road accident (Source: TRL).

Probably the most dangerous time when drivers consider themselves to be ‘fine’ is the morning after. It is a common mistake to think we are fit to drive simply because we have not consumed alcohol that day. In reality, it can take until the following afternoon for the alcohol to be removed from the body. After drinking four pints of strong lager, a driver should wait 12 hours before they are safe to drive, and a recent survey shows that 15 million motorists underestimate this. In addition, it is a little known fact that drivers are still classed as ‘in charge’ of a vehicle even when they are sleeping in the cab.

Using a device such as an alcolock is one of the simplest and fail safe means of preventing this, and therefore ensuring excellent health and safety procedures.