What are companies expected to manage when it comes to their employees driving on company business? Here, we provide employers with a straight-forward checklist of do’s and don’t when it comes to managing the risks…
Do’s
- Create (update) a driving on company business policy and issue to all relevant staff.
- Annually check the driving licenses of all those who drive on business and keep a relevant record of those.
- Ask to see the insurance docs of those who drive their own vehicles on business to ensure the docs in are current and include driving on business.
- Consider a protocol for drivers around phoning in travel plans and/or arrivals if appropriate for security/safety of your staff.
- Check driving licenses are valid for driving in the UK.
Don’ts
- Forget to include in the written reasons for gross misconduct in your disciplinary policy, ‘someone who regularly drives on business, loses the right to drive through points and/or criminal convictions.’
- Forget to log road traffic and similar accidents in your accident Book for driving accidents that occur off site.
- Neglect to ask staff annually to declare that they have not been given any medical or optical advice regarding not driving.
- Ignore working time regulations requirements around rest breaks, especially when you are expecting staff to drive long distances.
- Hesitate to set standards around what level of vehicle servicing and checks are sensible when driving own car on business e.g. water, tyres, screen wash etc.
And Finally…
10.5 Cars, vans, bikes etc can all be lethal weapons. So, treat them as such rather than something that is peripheral to what you do and how you operate. Make sure staff understand your legal responsibilities here so that they take seriously what you are asking them to do in respect of servicing, insurance, rest breaks etc.