Keeping them safe on the Road

Business Insights
14/03/2018

There is no question but that a company’s greatest asset is its workforce, and employers have a duty of care to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of their employees is protected while at work.


The Health and Safety at work regulations cover numerous aspects of working practices but the area many employers find most problematic is ensuring that their staff are safe on the road.


Road related fatalities are the number one cause of death at work in the UK, and for anyone driving more than 25,000 miles a year, driving for work is probably the most dangerous thing they do.


Under the 2008 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act managers and HR departments have a legal duty of care to ensure that ongoing policies and processes are in place to assess and manage risks associated with driving at work.


Although driver training used to be seen as a cost, often forced upon employers when fleet accident rates got too high, times have changed. The importance of driver training on our congested roads is hard to overestimate; accordingly more and more organisations are choosing to implement driver-training programmes.


Driving for work is very different from driving normally and experienced drivers tend to become complacent, while younger drivers frequently overestimate their abilities. Heavy traffic, road works, tight schedules, meetings that overrun all contribute to making the driver late for their next appointment, putting them under pressure, which is when mistakes or errors of judgement can occur.


The British Safety Council offers a useful short on-line course on driver safety awareness for anyone who drives at work, whether using a company vehicle or their own. It aims to ensure that all drivers understand the risks involved and what they can do to minimise the chances of an accident.


The course takes 20-30 minutes and includes a range of e-Learning interactions and knowledge checks. Learners are encouraged to think about policies and procedures in their own workplace and must pass a short multiple-choice assessment to complete the course.


There are a number of organisations offering driving courses that can be tailored to the specific needs of your team; such courses usually involve driver assessment, often carried out using Virtual Reality technology, before recommending a programme of actual training.


Courses can be short residential or separate days to fit in with your business, are usually based at a specially designed centre, and can run from a very basic course on driver awareness right up to an Advanced Driving course.


Many benefits, apart from the immediately obvious one of driver safety, arise from this type of initiative. Reduced fuel spend as a result of more economical driving behaviours, savings in servicing costs due to less wear and tear, insurance premium savings, fewer accidents meaning less working time lost, reduced fleet management costs, minimised risk of corporate manslaughter lawsuits and, importantly, compliance with health & safety requirements and your duty of care.


HGV drivers need to pass tests at the different weights and classes of vehicles that they drive in the course of their duties, so why not the other employees who drive for you as a part of your business? In many organisations it is enough for the average sales agent or representative to have a clean driving licence before stepping into a company vehicle.


As a responsible employer with the welfare of your employees at heart it is important to make sure that they are fit and able for the tasks they are being asked to perform, especially when driving.


These days the boozy business lunch is no longer the norm but a new consideration is arising, less easy to detect. We hear from the police that, increasingly, when pulled over, drivers are as likely to be found under the influence of drugs as alcohol, and this can lead to you, as the employer facing prosecution.


To avoid this becoming a problem for your business a system of random testing for substance abuse during the working day, will have the double benefit of not only stopping the practice for fear of detection, but also enabling you, as the employer, to identify and help any staff member struggling with some form of addiction.


Such testing is non-invasive, saliva based, and carried out on your premises. It is important to test across the board, rather than isolating any given employee to avoid being found discriminatory in any way, and to make such testing just a regular part of your company practices.


The onus for your employees’ safety rests with you, and given the pressures on those who drive as part of their work, the careful employer will take all possible action to ensure their safety.