Brake, the road safety charity, is calling on fleet safety managers to get expert advice on saving their employees’ necks by attending a low-cost Fleet Safety Forum workshop on preventing whiplash and head injuries.
Whiplash can cause serious neck and back injuries and is responsible for around 1,184 insurance claims for personal injury every day. With a correctly fitted head restraint, the chance of suffering a whiplash injury can be reduced by 24%. Despite this, 75% of drivers are unaware of how to position their head restraints to minimise this risk[i].
The low-cost ‘Meet the Expert’ workshop is being run by the charity on Wednesday 2 December in Thatcham, Berkshire. It will explain the latest technologies being employed in head restraint design, and outline the importance of promoting correct head restraint practices among staff.
This workshop will be led by expert Matthew Avery, research manager at Thatcham’s crash laboratory, who will explain his latest research and guidance on injury prevention. Delegates will have the chance to explore the crash test laboratory and learn about the main areas of Thatcham’s research programme, which aims to control insurance costs and improve safety for all road users.
The workshop is taking place on Wednesday 2 December but places are expected to book up early, so register today by calling 01484 559909. Delegates will receive free resources on relevant topics, including guidance, posters and leaflets.
Roz Cumming, Fleet Safety Forum manager at Brake, said: “Given that the majority of drivers still don’t know how to position their head restraints correctly, this is clearly an important and valuable workshop for fleet safety professionals to attend. We urge fleet safety, risk and HR managers to attend and use what they learn to prevent potentially crippling injuries amongst their workers.”
Matthew Avery, Thatcham’s research manager and leader of the workshop, said: “Attend this course to learn about whiplash injury and how it can be prevented – it could help reduce the impact of sickness and absence in your company. Whiplash is the most common injury in car crashes, and there are 432,000 claims annually – one percent of these are permanent injury.”