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It has been estimated that up to a third of all road traffic accidents involve somebody who is at work at the time. This may account for over 20 fatalities and 250 serious injuries every week.
Some employers believe, incorrectly, that provided they comply with certain road traffic law requirements, e.g. company vehicles have a valid MOT certificate, and that drivers hold a valid licence, this is enough to ensure the safety of their employees, and others, when they are on the road. However, health and safety law applies to on-the-road work activities as to all work activities, and the risks should be effectively managed within a health and safety management system.
Employers should visually check their driver’s licences annually; this is to ensure that all penalty points are taken into consideration for insurance purposes
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Health and safety law does not apply to commuting, unless the employee is travelling from their home to a location which is not their usual place of work.Â
Recent prosecutions have highlighted the need employers must be aware of fatigue as a factor when driving and ensure that they do not ‘overwork’ employees they require to drive to and from client sites to undertake work.
Work-related road safety can only be effectively managed if it is integrated into your arrangements for managing health and safety at work.
You should look at your health and safety systems and consider whether they adequately cover this area of work.
The main areas you need to address are, policy, responsibility, organisation, systems and monitoring.
A business should have adequate systems to allow them to manage work-related road safety effectively. For example, vehicles should be regularly inspected and serviced in accordance with manufacturers’ recommendations.
They should monitor performance to ensure that their work-related road safety policy is effective.Â
Employees should be encouraged to report all work-related road incidents without fear that punitive action will be taken against them.
Risk assessments for any work-related driving activity should follow the same principles as risk assessments for any other work activity.
You should bear in mind that failure to properly manage work-related road safety is more likely to endanger other people than a failure to properly manage risks in the workplace.
Associated Legislation
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires you to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all employees while at work. You also have a responsibility to ensure that others are not put at risk by your work related driving activities.