3M takes occupational road risk management lead with wide-ranging safety first initiatives.

At-work driving safety initiatives introduced by diversified technology company 3M - including a ban on all mobile phone use while on the move - are being followed by other employers.

3M is also urging companies that have HGVs and trailers on UK roads to ensure their drivers take extra care after dark. It is estimated that 40% of road accidents occur during the twilight hours - night and dawn - even though less than one third of all traffic is on the road at that time.

The Bracknell-headquartered company is one of 42 ‘business champions’ identified by the Government-backed ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign, which is managed by RoadSafe, as being in the vanguard of promoting occupational road safety.

The company is hosting on Thursday, April 29 a ‘business champions’ event that will attract many of the campaign members as they share best practice and network.

The company’s initiatives have ranged from an external child road safety campaign with schools to its internal policy introduced in July 2008 to ban all employees from using even hands-free mobile phones while driving.

It was among the first major companies in the UK to bring in such a ban and it did so in the face of somewhat underwhelming support from its employees. Many of them, especially its sales staff, had become used to making calls to customers on the move.

Research shows that using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone while driving is a significant distraction and substantially increases the risk of the driver crashing. Indeed, drivers who use a mobile phone, whether hand-held or hands-free, are four times more likely to crash, injuring or killing themselves and/or other people.

3M corporate communications manager John Klee said: “We carried out an employee survey when the ban was first introduced and this found just 19% were in favour of it.

“However, when we ran the survey again a year later in 2009, that figure had more than doubled to 42% and those against the ban had fallen from 56 to 33%. We will repeat the survey again this summer and it will be interesting to see if perceptions have changed still further.”

3M operates a UK-based fleet of more than 800 company cars with some 200-plus employees also driving their own vehicles on business.

Around 10 million business miles are driven annually by its employees in the UK and Ireland and in a typical year there are approximately 140 incidents involving its vehicles.

Although there has been no significant reduction in the number of incidents since the phone ban was introduced, 3M takes a wider view on measuring the policy’s success.

“No one is claiming that talking on the phone is the cause of all incidents, but there is compelling evidence that it can affect driving performance,” explained Mr Klee.

“This was a preventative measure taken in response to a clearly identified risk. If we could avoid the potential for an incident - and the subsequent injury or even fatality that could possibly result from it - then without question it was something we felt committed to do.”

The growing support for the ban among 3M employees reflects the increased understanding of the reasoning behind it. The most recent survey found that more than half of those who comply (51%) said they did so because of the danger of an accident.

It has also had an influence on the way employees use their personal phones while driving their own cars. Some 46% of those who previously used their phones have since either stopped or reduced the number of calls they make. Only 16% say there has been no change.

The decision by 3M to bring in the mobile phone ban created wide interest among the company’s customers, distributors and suppliers in the UK. A number of these recognised it as a clear example of best practice that they would like to share.

Among these was Arco - the UK’s leading safety company, distributing quality products and training and providing expert advice - which introduced its own mobile phone policy for employees in March 2009.

Established in 1884, Arco has a long history of keeping people safe at work and its sales and marketing director Neil Jowsey said that reducing the risk of accidents is a principal purpose of the company.

He said: “The safety of our employees is paramount to us and we had already been actively considering such a ban when 3M informed us that they had decided to introduce one.

“3M was great at sharing its thinking with us and this was very helpful in planning the successful introduction of our own policy a few months later.”

As a business champion of the Driving for Better Business campaign, 3M is actively encouraging more companies to consider similar policies.

With regards to HGV and trailer safety a new regulation - UN ECE104, which contains guidelines for the use of retro-reflective safety markings on such vehicles - was initially planned to have been introduced into the UK in October last year but has now been delayed until July 2011.

Statistics show there are around 600 fatal accidents a year in the UK that involve HGVs in rear or side impact with another vehicle.

And research suggests that up to 12% of these could have been avoided if conspicuity marking tape had been fitted to make the vehicles more easily seen by other road users, especially at night, says 3M.