Road traffic accidents involving people at work is the subject of a new study

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) recently commissioned TRL to investigate why around 200 workers are either killed or seriously injured every week on the UK's roads. According to the Department for Transport, it is estimated that one third of all crashes which take place on the roads in the UK involve someone who was driving for work at the time.

It is hoped this research, paid for by the IOSH Research and Development Fund, will help businesses cut the road accident toll. To date, a number of research projects into the area of work-related road safety exist. However, the aim of TRL's research is to uncover evidence of the effectiveness of existing road safety measures for employees.

TRL's Dr Shaun Helman, who is leading the research, said: "It is important that we are able to understand the types of intervention that work well in reducing work-related road risk, and those that do not work so well. The only way of knowing this is to look at all of the evidence, to establish what it tells us about different approaches. Of course, another issue is identifying where the knowledge gaps are; there may be innovative approaches that show promise, but which have not yet been properly tested. If we can identify these, we can help the work-related road safety field to prioritise its efforts."

Dr Luise Vassie, Head of Research and Technical Services at IOSH, said: "We hope that this work will help policy-makers and businesses alike to make informed decisions about work-related road safety. IOSH has commissioned this research in the light of helping to reduce work-related road accidents. It is hoped that the research will provide an independent appraisal of the likely benefits that different types of work-related road safety interventions provide. It also sets out to understand, what works when it comes to helping to prevent work-related road accidents."

The research will take place over the next few months and a report is expected to be published in early 2011.