Employer´s Responsibility

Since 6th April 2008, driving at work falls under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which means that as an employer you are responsible for the safety of your workers whilst they are driving for work. The Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act that came into force means that as an employer you could be found liable for any injuries or fatalities. This means that if a member of your staff is involved in a crash, which causes injury to a member of the public and the employee has had no training, then your company could be liable. It is estimated that one in every three road traffic collisions involves somebody who is driving on work related business at the time. That does not include commuting. Therefore managing health and safety on the road, is as vital to your employee´s well-being as managing risk in the office, on a site or working in a workshop.

Companies need to therefore:

Have a designated person responsible within the company for managing occupational road risk
Develop policies on road safety and communicate these policies to their workforce
Put systems in place to ensure these policies are adhered to
Carry out risk assessments of staff and procedures to ensure that everything possible within the company is being done to avoid road risk to staff members
Implement a driver training programme
Monitor and review training

Managing road risk to employees doesn´t have to mean radical changes to the way your company does things, simple steps can be taken to ensure safer driving from your employees. Ask yourself:

Is the trip necessary?
Could the meeting be done via video conferencing or telephone?
Could the employees travel in the same car? Car sharing option?
How far away is the meeting venue? Could alternative transport be better - train?
Are the vehicles fit for purpose? What policies are in place for vehicle maintenance within the company? Are the vehicles fitted with distracting gadgets?
Is the staff member fit to drive? Are there any health problems you are aware of concerning this staff member? Fatigue? Tiredness? Illness? Sleep deprivation from looking after a newborn or a sick relative? Could the meeting be scheduled at a different time of the day to allow for this?
Is the staff member under any medication that could affect their ability to drive?

By taking an active step in driver training, you can actively reduce costs to your business by reducing vehicle insurance premiums, lowering fuel consumption and reducing employee´s time off work through injury. Moreover, you are also helping to protect your employees, keeping them safer both in work and whilst driving socially. Some employers believe that by not supplying a company car and offering incentives to employees to use their own cars, that their health and safety responsibilities towards their employees are removed - this is not the case. Furthermore, managers should avoid systems of work which cause their employees to speed. Examples of this would be unrealistic delivery times, commission for reaching delivery targets or having an early to work - early to finish approach to delivering goods.

At Defensive Driving UK, we can help you through this potential maze of information by giving you quality advice and training. We have courses designed for a wide range of people so whatever the situation we are sure to have a course that suits. All our courses are fun, tailor made to your company and are flexible around your circumstances. We conduct the courses from your company and can be done in the delegate´s own car. At the end of each course both you and the delegate will receive a written report outlining areas for development.

For more information about our courses, simply fill in the enquiry form or call us on 07979 414 528 with your requirements and a member of our team will call you back.