Driving on the job can be more dangerous than you think. In fact, one in three car accidents involves someone who is working. So what can you do to stay out of trouble? TOM MORTON finds out

BEING at work could be even worse for your health than you thought.

Research has shown that up to a third of all car accidents involve someone who is at work. This worrying figure adds up to about 1,000 deaths a year or 20 fatalities and 250 serious injuries a week.

Although there is Government guidance available to cut the risk of an accident during work hours as much as possible, Zurich has found that hardly any employers are aware of it.

And now it has issued guidelines to drivers to make sure they are fit for the road.

There are many potential danger areas in connection with driving at work.

As well as executives driving round the country from meeting to meeting, it is also necessary to look at minimising the risks for company drivers.

The problems range from lorry drivers being on the road to long, to their vehicles being over-laden, to a fleet of cars not being maintained well enough. There is also a need to assess the risks staff face before sending them out on the road.

Zurich surveyed firms to see if they carry out risk assessments of employees before letting them drive on business.

Only two out of five firms in the south said they assessed staff, while the figure was three out of five in the Midlands and just over half in the north.

Smaller companies were the least likely to assess drivers.

Andy Price, motor fleet senior risk consultant at Zurich Risk Services, said: "We are urging businesses to work with their insurers and brokers to improve driver safety by assessing the risks their drivers face and acting on the information if they are to reduce the likelihood of road traffic collisions.

"It's not surprising in many ways that smaller businesses are less aware of work-related safety as they have less resources to dedicate to risk management."

The Health and Safety Executive published the Driving At Work pamphlet last September. It is available to read and download at www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf

Common reasons for accidents

drink driving the morning after businessmen out with clients need to be particularly careful. If drunk between 9pm and midnight, one pint of beer, three 250ml (standard large measure) glasses of wine and a double whisky would mean the drinker was not clear to drive until 11am the next day.

bad journey planning motorways are the safest roads, and so journeys should be planned to use them as much as possible.

tiredness avoid driving between midnight and 6am

mobile phone use even though using a hands-free kit is still legal, your reaction times can be up to a quarter slower if you are talking

bad weather drivers need to follow the advice of the police and breakdown services. Stopping distances double in the wet and can be up to 10 times further in icy conditions.