Safer driving in Kenya
At Diageo we want to make health and safety awareness second nature to every one of our employees, in every part of our operations. While we work to prevent accidents across our business, some of the most severe actually occur on the road.
Moreover, according to the World Health Organisation*, not only are road traffic injuries a major but neglected public health challenge, the problems are most acute in Africa. For this reason, we launched a training programme for our sales staff in Kenya.
Our Kenyan sales team is one of the largest in Africa, with 105 members of staff. They drive all over the country to work with our customers and deliver our product, on a road system that can sometimes feel chaotic. This year, Diageo brought in a group of instructors, Defensive Driving Systems, to help our salespeople improve their driving technique and minimise the risk of accidents. A running programme of two-day courses was held for two weeks at the end of January 2011, so that all Kenya sales staff could attend.
Defensive driving is statistically the best way to reduce accidents. Now the sales team is better equipped to cope with the difficult driving conditions they face every day.
*WHO global status report on road safety, 2009.