The health, safety and welfare of our staff is a prime consideration for the University. We want you to be more active and strongly encourage health and fitness amongst our workforce and active travel is a very good way of doing this.
Cycling has many great benefits to an individual’s health and wellbeing and we encourage all of you to consider this as a method of commuting where possible. Our organisation supports those who do this in a number of ways, for example; by providing you with somewhere safe to store your bike when you are at work or by promoting the cycle scheme.
However, during the winter period the weather can often provide challenging conditions for cyclists, and addressing this is part of the West of England Road Safety Partnership’s campaign to reduce the number of cycling injuries. During the Partnership's research the greatest risk identified to cyclists was non-collision injuries caused by slipping on ice. This led to 218 emergency admissions in the area in 2014 (this compares to 65 admissions following collisions with a car) and no doubt countless other incidents that did not involve admission to hospital but that could have accounted for significant injuries.
The University would like to encourage you to consider the road and weather conditions before you set off on your commute at this time of year. If conditions are icy or slippery ask yourself if you can take another means of transport to work such as public transport or share a lift with someone else.
For further advice please see the 'Cycling in Ice' leaflet and case studies booklet produced by B&NES Council.