Good practice: occupational road risk
A
previous article in Connect looked at measures to
reduce accidents involving transport within the workplace. This
article looks at where vehicles are taken outside the workplace.
While issues such as maintenance may be common to both situations,
reduced supervision, potentially longer working hours, and
increased hazards (for example, from other vehicles and poor road
conditions) require additional measures to control risks outside
the workplace.
Headlines
What does the law say?
The general duty of care imposed on employers by the Health and
Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and the requirement for risk
assessments under the Management of Health
and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 applies equally to time
spent driving for work. Risk assessments should cover those driving
and anyone else (eg passengers, other drivers or pedestrians) who
could be affected. Following the assessment of those risks,
organisations should put into place reasonable measures to reduce
the risk of driving for work.
Vehicles used at work can be considered as work equipment and
therefore are covered by the Provision and Use of
Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), which require all work
equipment to be fit for purpose, maintained and inspected.
The Road Traffic Acts (1988
and 1992),
supported by
the Highway Code, apply to all road users, including
those driving for work. Delivery drivers are required to park
legally and safely.
The
Road Transport (Working Times) Regulations 2005 controls the
amount of time drivers of lorries, vans, buses and coaches can
drive. All workers are protected by the Working Time
Regulations 1998 and time spent driving for work should be
included in working time. Note that the 2002 amendment
includes a specification of the definition of ‘rest period’.
The Smoke-free
(Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations 2007 explains how
vehicles used at work are covered by smoke-free legislation.
Accidents that occur on the public road are not reportable under
the Reporting of Injuries,
Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR),
even if they involve someone at work at the time, unless a vehicle
is transporting dangerous goods. Brake, RoSPA and the TUC have
called for all road accidents involving a driver who was working at
the time to be reported under RIDDOR in order to get
more accurate road injury statistics.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 may be
used where an employee driving for work kills someone or is killed
in a road accident. For example, if it can be shown that an
organisation has encouraged a culture of driving for long
distances, or expects drivers to answer their mobile phone while
driving, the organisation may be held responsible for consequential
deaths.
What should you do?
There are three key considerations:
1) the journey
2) the vehicle
3) the driver.
The journey
Can the car journey be eliminated? Could the purpose be achieved
with a telephone call? If a journey is necessary, is there a
convenient way of getting there by public transport? If a car
journey is needed, consider:
- travelling at a quieter time of day or via a less congested
route
- driving straight from home, rather than coming into the
workplace first
- planning meetings to reduce excessive travel. For example,
instead of several trips to different destinations, arrange to meet
several individuals at one common place, eg a trade
conference.
Journeys and meetings should be planned to fall within the
Working Time
Regulations (for all drivers) and, where relevant, additional
rules for lorry, van, bus and coach drivers should be followed.
Business Link provides details of the rules applicable to these
drivers.
The vehicle
Fleet vehicles will have a servicing schedule based on the
manufacturer’s recommendations. However, where an employee’s own
vehicle is used for work, the organisation still has a
responsibility to check the safety of the vehicle. You can check on
the safety of various car models with the European New Car Assessment
Programme (Euro NCAP).
RoSPA provides advice on
how employers can ensure that all vehicles used at work are fit for
purpose. Their suggestions include:
- review ‘cash for cars’ policy – the advantages
may be outweighed by the increased difficulty of managing
employee’s own vehicles
- agree minimum vehicle standards – to include
crashworthiness, minimum safety features, unacceptable features
(such as bull bars). RoSPA provide further
advice on features to seek or avoid in a new car
- conduct document checks – eg MOT, insurance
for business use, service history
- help staff to conduct regular vehicle safety
checks – by providing a checklist and training staff to
use it. Carry out an audit to make sure checks are being
made.
A useful
daily vehicle checklist is provided by the Driving for Better
Business website. This suggests checking the outside of the vehicle
(eg tyres, lights, mirrors), the interior (eg seat belts, head
restraint, first aid kit), fluids (eg oil, washer fluid) and
carrying out functional checks such as lights, fuel and
brakes.
The driver
You should collect the following information about employees who
might drive for work:
- driving licences held (eg car, LGV, PSV) – check the licence is
current, valid and applies to the vehicles to be driven
- accidents within the last five years
- traffic violations and penalties – in particular, any
drink-driving convictions
- notifiable medical conditions. Advice is available
from the DVLA about medical standards for driving
- date of last eyesight test, and whether glasses are required
for driving. The Eyecare Trust found that 1 in 20 drivers surveyed
had eyesight that fell
below minimum legal standards whilst Specsavers estimates that
a third of British drivers could be on the roads with
sub-standard vision
- additional training received, for example advanced motorist,
skid pan training, computer-based training.
Driving for Better Business provides
a pre-employment driver checklist.
Training for drivers can include:
- understanding speed limits and stopping distances in different
driving conditions
- awareness of the law
- dealing with tiredness
- seat belts
- driving skills such as safe braking and skid training
- maintenance and daily checks
- how to park safely and considerately
- driving in bad weather – for example see Driving for Better
Business for advice on
what to do in ice and snow.
More detailed advice is available in the HSE research report, The
contribution of individual factors to driving behaviour:
Implications
for managing work-related road safety RR020
(2002).
Is that enough?
All these measures should be documented in a driving for work
policy which considers:
- the attitude of the organisation to travel by car and a
commitment to road safety by senior management
- how to promote a culture which does not encourage driving long
distances
- how to raise staff awareness of vehicle safety and driver
competence, including provision of initial and refresher
training
- risk assessment – hazards identified and controls in place
- process for recording accidents and near misses and
investigating accidents.
An example of a road risk management policy is available from
The Natural Environment Research Council.
Does it work?
Between 2001 and 2009, BT cut its yearly collision rate from
over 60,000 vehicles per year to 30,000 by improving its
occupational road risk policy and programmes. As a consequence,
they’ve
reduced costs by around £12 million per year.
IOSH links
HSE links
Other links