Drivers

5.  Your responsibilities cover any driver working on your company business. So whether the driver is a full or part-time employee, an agency driver or someone working for a sub-contractor, you must ensure that they are fit to drive.

6.  You must have a ‘Driving at Work’ policy for your business drivers.
Keep it up to date as legal obligations and requirements change.
Give a copy to every driver; they should sign to confirm they’ve received it, and again to confirm they’ve read and understood it, and will comply with its requirements.
Your Driving at Work policy should cover such issues as mobile phone use, smoking, eating, driving, drug use, speeding and other driving offences. It should describe what the driver should do in the event of an accident. Consider the risks your drivers may encounter if, for example, you expect them to make long journeys or deliveries, and cover these points too.

7.  Always do a full driver’s license check, not just a simple visual check. The information needs to come from the DVLA to ensure that you achieve compliance and are 100% sure the driver is legal to drive.
License checking is a vital part of the risk management process. It should be repeated at least annually, and more frequently for drivers with points on their licenses. I always recommend that companies check drivers’ licenses before they are employed – and that includes agency and part-time workers.

8.  You have a legal responsibility to assess each and every driver for road risk. This can be done online but it’s imperative to remember that if any driver shows up as ‘high risk‘, you must follow up the assessment with training.
Again, much of this can be done online unless the driver’s risk assessment demands in car training. Online training is cost effective, particularly if large groups of drivers are involved, it ensures that you can demonstrate that you have met your Duty of Care, and it creates an audit trail for your records.

9.  If your risk assessment finds a driver who is at high risk, failure to act can mean that you may be held culpable if the driver is subsequently found to be at fault in an accident.
Since you knew there was a risk, it was your responsibility to act and failure to do so puts you in a worse position than if you’d been ignorant of the risk.
So make sure that you satisfy yourself that you have access to remedial training before you begin your risk assessments.

10.  I also recommend that you ask that your drivers take annual health and eyesight checks which can catch problems early and help to ensure drivers are physically fit to drive and comply with the minimum eyesight requirement.

Yes, it seems exhaustive but it’s easy to implement a plan of action and a driving at work policy.

Comply and stay legal or, chance your arm and hope that your drivers aren’t involved in an accident where the consequences leave your and the company exposed to prosecution through criminal or civil proceedings.

Editor’s note: Paul Ripley is the managing director of www.driverriskdynamics.com, an online training programme providing cost-effective company car driver road risk assessments and remedial training modules.

For more on Paul Ripley, an expert in small fleet safety, read Paul Ripley joins Business Car Manager