The subdelegate of the Government in Cádiz, Javier de Torre, and the Special delegate of the State in the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, Jorge Ramos, have inaugurated this morning in the fiscal premises a Road Safety Day aimed at directors and managers of companies in the province, which seeks to promote the prevention of accidents in trips made for work.
One of every three fatal work accidents in Spain, 32%, occurs due to traffic. 68% of traffic accidents in Spain occur between 8 in the morning and 8 in the afternoon, Monday to Friday, and 69% in the months of September to June. These statistics reflect the need to promote preventive road safety plans among workers and company managers.
During the opening and after thanking the attendees for their presence in the room, Jorge Ramos pointed out that "it has to be everyone's responsibility to be able to talk about accident figures that do not horrify", so he asked for collaboration among everyone to be able to reduce this high number of accidents, a good part of which occur on the way to or from work.
The delegate of the Free Zone congratulated the provincial director of Traffic for having made these days possible and referred to what he called other common challenges, among which the “Road Safety, in 12 months” campaign stood out, a specific training plan for employees that would be aimed at raising awareness month by month of the high rate of accidents on the route to or returning from work.
Javier de Torre, who described this day as very positive, presented worrying figures of traffic accidents in the work environment and declared himself “absolutely convinced that raising awareness among employers is of utmost importance for prevention.”” and called on them to contribute to cutting “these unaffordable figures, since we must take into account that, in addition to the personal tragedy, it is also a social and work loss.” He also appealed to workers to contribute to avoiding accidents by complying with prevention measures, which include respect for traffic and road safety regulations.
The Conference, organized by the Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Cádiz, in collaboration with the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, included a presentation by the head of the Labor and Social Security Inspection in Cádiz, Eugenio Santa-Barbara, who made an analysis of the accident figures.
Statistics indicate that in 2012 traffic accidents at work in Spain (52,411) represented 11.1% of the total (471,223) of work accidents. This figure worsens at the provincial level, since it amounts to 17.45% in Cádiz.
Of the total number of traffic accidents in 2012, 72.5% were 'in itinere'’ (transfers to or from the workplace) and 23.2% on a mission or work trip.
Subsequently, the head of the Planning Service of the Higher Council of Traffic, Road Safety and Sustainable Mobility of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), Fernando Ruiz, presented the standard Road Safety Plan in the company, which seeks the involvement of workers and managers to tackle this problem with the implementation of a series of measures, some preventive and some corrective, on the driving habits of employees.
Next, an analysis of the international standard ISO 39,001 and its certification for companies was carried out by Nicolás Henríquez, from AENOR. It is a tool that helps organizations create a road safety management system to reduce and prevent, and ultimately eliminate, traffic accidents caused in the workplace, by identifying elements of good management practices in road safety at work, which allow organizations to achieve the desired results.
Next, Jesús López, from the Airbus plant in Puerto Real, has transmitted the experiences and good practices carried out in his company, such as the use of collective transport (buses), for example.
Finally, the closing of the Day was the responsibility of Piedad Sánchez, Provincial Head of Traffic of Cádiz, who indicated that one of the strategic objectives of the DGT for the period 2011-2020 is to give due importance to travel in occupational risk prevention policies, incorporating the culture of road safety in companies.