Driving For Work

Driving for work. It is a risky activity? Well it is not considered risky as we do it all the time. 

However 1 in 3 incidents involve someone driving for work. Whilst recent recently at a seminar I heard from Highways England that some drivers are putting themselves at risk because a yellow light that comes on the dash and the driver does not know what it is, it could be screen wash low. But they are stopping on motorways for this. Do your drivers do proper daily walk round vehicle checks? 

Did you know that, employers have duties under health and safety legislation for their on-the-road work activities? 

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act 2) states, “You must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all employees while at work. You must also ensure that others are not put at risk by your work-related driving activities”. That’s not me saying this or making it up, it’s the Health & Safety Executive!

But remember, over a quarter of collisions happen in work’s time, on a work’s journey. What is being done about it? What can you do about it? Do you want to be seen as an employer who is responsible and looking after your staff, looking after public who are out and about? Managing driver safety should therefore be on your radar as a must and is a legal obligation for you to do so. 

What can the Managing Director, Director do then? As it must start from the top. Because your the one who can implement policies, but your the one who is responsible if the company is found to be negligent in the duty of care and have not got policies and procedures in place to minimise risk after the result of a Road Traffic Collision that results in a fatality or of a serious nature that was part of a work related activity. This would most likely be a charge of Corporate Manslaughter where a custodial sentence is given, if not a fatality a lesser charge may be given in the way of a fine that would very much hit the bottom line on the company, possible resulting in closure with the loss on many jobs. 

Now to ask Managing Directors, Directors, HR and Fleet Managers, we want to help you manage your team of employees that drive for work, so if your looking to get things in place and to cover your duty of care and not have the full arm of law pressed down on your business and you. What do you need to do? How can you do it? Who can do it? 

Start with your self looking at how your run your Fleet, what can you do and if you can not can you put someone there to so it for you such as HR, Trainers, Fleet Managers or External Trainers. So your looking to your higher management or off loading what you can not to those who can help and do it. 

Some steps on what and how your can cover your duty of care and be compliant with Health and Safety. 

1 - Have a good Driver Risk Management system in place, a way of recording all your drivers and dates you have checked their driving licences, at least once a year ensuring your GDPR compliant and making sure your staff are not driving whilst disqualified, have more points than your business would except them to have. The vehicles they drive, date and time they took the vehicle out and returned it. 

2 - Asking the drivers the important and difficult questions. One such as are you fit and healthy to drive? Not just relying on the D4 Medical form, have the drivers reported to DVLA one of the reasons why your unfit to drive. Looking after the mental health of driver is so important too. You may need occupational health workers or trained well-being staff to assist here for the mental health issues that driving staff have.

3- A risk assessment from an independent person detailing all the activities seen by the driver assessor, in writing with a risk rating and recommendations from the risk assessment on the driver.

4- A good and detailed robust driver policy that is comprehensive and stating the standards, expectations of the duties of the driver that is well communicated to them. This should strongly cover things like: Use of Phones whilst driving including handsfree, Drinking and Drugs, Fatigue, Speeding and other driving offences

5- Driver risk profile, so if you have built up a risk profile on your drivers, you will see who needs training to reduce their risk on the roads and who can be left to carry out their duties, this should be done every year. 

6- Training, this can be done in a variety of ways. A, a pre-employment assessment and have a report drawn up to highlight development points. B, post employment risk assessment and coaching session to develop the driver, which should include responsibility of daily walk round checks on all categories of vehicles. C, classroom based sessions. D, post collisions / speeding courses. E, confidence and vehicle upgrade courses. This should also include line manager and fleet manager so they know what training their drivers are getting. But also training to be suitable for the drivers needs and to fit in with the policies of the company. 

7- Grey Fleet, this is a term that may not be known to everyone. What is Grey Fleet? Now I am not talking about commuting to and from work here. But it is employees that use their own vehicles for work purposes, such as sales meetings, visits to customers/suppliers, network meetings, van drivers deliveries, going from one site to another to pick up stock in cars. This is where looking after your fleet in law there is now distinction between using your own car or a fleet car supplied by the company. As a business owner you have a duty of care to ensure that the vehicle used is one- fit for purpose, as in safe to do what it is intended to do, not like going to another store to pick up a fridge or 60inch TV, two- you have info on the vehicle such as it services and done in accordance to the manufacturers recommendations, that the vehicle is taxed and has a valid MOT and that the driver has got their insurance to state using for the purpose of business. You must have these records stored securely and correctly and to be accessed if needed. 

8- having senior management available to talk and communicate company policy changes to drivers and give drivers feedback on things like telematics data so the can improve and self reflect on what they are doing. But also being there to listen to the needs of drivers and help address the need that they have, such as driving times set that are not achievable or booking them in to many jobs over a large area so they are speeding between jobs. 

Have these discussions so the drivers and company can learn what is needed to improve and improve drivers on the roads, reducing the risk in the workplace and out on the roads to your employees. This will show you care for your staff, make them feel valued and in turn have a improved level of productivity in the work team. This is not a quick fix, it will take time to put in place and develop, but the benefits to your business in the long term will be worth it, you will see the rewards for all this effort over a period of time.

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