Driving for Work: Is Your Business Meeting Its Duty of Care?
For many organisations, driving is simply viewed as a necessary part of doing business. Yet it may be one of the most dangerous activities employees undertake during their working day.
Employees visit customers, travel between sites, make deliveries, attend meetings or transport equipment. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), health and safety law applies to work-related driving in the same way that it applies to activities carried out in a fixed workplace. If an employee drives or rides on the road as part of their work, their employer must manage the associated health and safety risks.
The important question is: can your business demonstrate that it is doing so?
Duty of care does not end at the workplace gates
Employers have a legal duty to take reasonably practicable steps to protect employees and others who may be affected by their work activities. When people drive for work, this responsibility extends beyond the office, warehouse or factory and onto the public road.
Road traffic law places responsibilities on the individual driver. However, this does not remove the employer’s wider duty to manage occupational road risk.
An organisation should consider whether its drivers are competent, authorised, properly licensed and fit to drive. It must also consider whether vehicles are safe and suitable, and whether journeys are planned in a way that avoids unnecessary risk.
These responsibilities apply to more than professional drivers. They can include sales representatives, engineers, carers, managers, tradespeople and anyone else who drives as part of their job, even if they only make occasional business journeys.
They also apply when employees use their own vehicles for work. This is commonly known as the ‘grey fleet’. An employer should not assume that a privately owned vehicle is automatically roadworthy, correctly insured or suitable for the journey.
What does effective driver risk management look like?
Managing work-related road risk does not need to become an unnecessarily complicated exercise. However, it does require more than a paragraph in a general health and safety policy.
A robust approach should address three connected areas: the driver, the vehicle and the journey.
Drivers should hold the correct licence and receive appropriate information, instruction and training. Their driving history, experience, health, eyesight and fitness to drive should also be considered. Procedures should explain how employees report penalty points, collisions, medical conditions and medicines that could affect their driving.
Vehicles should be legal, roadworthy and suitable for the work. Clear arrangements are needed for routine maintenance, daily safety checks and defect reporting. This includes vehicles owned or leased by the organisation as well as employees’ own vehicles used on business.
Journeys should be planned realistically. Schedules must allow sufficient time for traffic, breaks and safe driving. Employers should avoid creating deadlines or workloads that encourage speeding, distraction, fatigue or other unsafe behaviour.
The HSE recommends that employers manage these areas as part of their normal health and safety arrangements, supported by effective leadership, consultation and regular review.
Why driver training matters
A valid driving licence confirms that someone has met the required standard to drive a particular category of vehicle. It does not necessarily mean they understand the additional demands of driving for work.
Business drivers may spend long periods behind the wheel, operate unfamiliar vehicles, carry loads, travel in poor weather or work to demanding schedules. Van drivers must also understand issues such as vehicle dimensions, blind spots, payloads, load security, the different speed limits that apply on certain roads and longer stopping distances.
Effective driver training helps employees recognise these risks and make safer decisions. It reinforces expectations concerning speed, mobile phones, fatigue, vehicle checks, defensive driving and collision reporting.
Training also sends a powerful message: driver safety matters to the organisation. When supported by managers and reinforced through policy, communication and monitoring, it can help create a lasting culture of safer driving.
The value goes beyond compliance
Good driver risk management is not simply about satisfying a legal requirement. It can deliver measurable commercial benefits.
Fewer collisions can mean reduced repair costs, insurance claims, vehicle downtime, missed appointments and disruption. Safer and more efficient driving can also reduce fuel consumption, tyre wear and maintenance expenditure.
Most importantly, it helps protect employees, passengers and other road users from preventable harm. It also protects the organisation’s reputation and demonstrates that senior leaders take their responsibilities seriously.
Following a serious collision, investigators will examine more than the actions of the driver. They will ask what the employer did to assess and mitigate the risk, i.e. check the driver, maintain the vehicle, plan the journey and provide suitable training.
At that point, verbal assurances that safety was taken seriously will carry far less weight than clear policies, completed checks, training records and evidence of active management.
Is it time to take a closer look?
Start by reviewing who drives for your organisation, what they drive and why they travel. Examine your policies, risk assessments, licence-checking arrangements, training records, vehicle procedures and incident data. Most importantly, check whether the measures written on paper are consistently followed in practice.
Driver safety is not an issue to address only after something has gone wrong. It is a foreseeable workplace risk that every responsible organisation should manage proactively.
