Are your drivers putting your business at risk?

Have you heard of work-related road risk? It is the risk that one of your employees could be involved in a collision while driving for work, with the potential of injury to the driver or other road users, or damage to vehicles and property. According to government statistics, there are over 500 road deaths and over 35,000 people injured every year in collisions involving at least one person who was driving for work at the time. It can put you, your organisation and your reputation at risk and you have a legal duty to manage it properly.

The Health and Safety Executive is clear that a company car or van is an extension of the workplace – it’s the reason nobody is allowed to smoke in a company vehicle, because the same rules that relate to workplace health and safety also apply to driving for work. The risks involved in driving for work must be identified, carefully assessed and safe working practices put in place to ensure those risks are minimised as far as possible.

What do you need to do?

Put simply, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 says that:

• Your organisation must not do anything that puts drivers at risk.
• Your work-related driving activities must not endanger other road users.
• Directors must put appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure this is so.
• All employees must follow those policies and procedures at all times.

You must be able to prove all this has been done, that compliance is being monitored and that further interventions are made where necessary. The first step is to create a policy that identifies these risks, explains how they are to be managed and clearly communicates the standards required of your drivers. You can find out what needs to be included and create a professional policy using our free driving for work policy builder templates.

If one of your drivers was involved in a serious collision and your business was deemed to have fallen short of these requirements, then the business and its management could be at risk of prosecution. The penalties can be severe, including heavy fines and even imprisonment. Courts also have the power to disqualify directors and impose publicity orders on the business, destroying reputations.

The importance of vehicle management

Even if your drivers aren’t involved in an injury collision, poor management of vehicles and drivers can lead to unnecessarily high costs for vehicle servicing and maintenance (aggressive drivers can go through a lot of brakes and tyres!). A heavy right foot can lead to excessive fuel use, breakdowns and small bumps can mean costly service disruption while your vehicles are off the road being fixed, and that’s before we get to the ever-increasing cost of fleet insurance.

With the costs of doing business constantly rising, effective management of your drivers could be an opportunity not to be missed to improve the cost-efficiency and performance of your business.

Driving for Better Business is a government-backed National Highways programme to help employers reduce work-related road risk, control the associated costs and improve compliance with current legislation and guidance.

It is free to access and contains useful online tools and resources to help you evaluate practices, strengthen culture, enhance performance and demonstrate leadership in the management of work-related road risk.

Click here to access the free Driving for Better Business resources