Do your staff Drive for Business purposes?
06-11-2014
If so there are certain activities that all employers must undertake as part of their duty of care under current health and safety at work legislation.
1. Employer Risk Assessment
Under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations, employers are required by law to carry out a written assessment of the risk involved in asking staff to drive on business – risk both to the drivers and other road users.
2. Safer Driver Policy
This sets out the rules that your drivers must follow and includes things like your rules on mobile phone use; guidance for vehicle checks and alcohol awareness. It also needs to explain your employees’ responsibilities for driving safely; informing you of collisions and convictions, and making sure they understand why they will need to have business cover added to their private motor insurance if they ever use their own car for a business journey.
3. Licence Monitoring
Employers MUST check that their drivers are correctly licenced to drive the vehicle in question and that they do not have any convictions, restrictions or disqualifications that mean they shouldn’t be driving. Employers should look to monitor licences on a regular basis directly against the DVLA database.
4. Driver Risk Assessment
Employers should risk profile their drivers to ensure competence and to assess whether drivers may be at greater risk from driving higher mileages, the types of road they use, the times of day they commonly drive and the length of their working day as well as many other variables such as their job role and the type of vehicle they drive.
5. Record Keeping
Finally it is absolutely essential to have a solid audit trail. In the event of a serious collision, the police will want to see adequate record keeping for all of the above activities in relation to the driver concerned.
Our Training Package on Driving Safely is an interactive tool to ensure all employees are aware of their responsibilities for driving safely. For further information and to purchase the course CLICK HEREVisit the Safety Services Direct Ltd website for more information on Do your staff Drive for Business purposes?