- Health And Safety at Work Act 1974
Employers have a "duty of care" for the safety of employees at work, regardless of the type or size of the business
There is also a duty of care to others who may be affected by their business activities, which, in the case of driving, means all other road users. You must also provide training to all your workforce, for all work activities.
- Management of the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
Employers are required to carry out risk assessments on all activities within the the workplace, making arrangments to implement neccessary measures, appoint competent people and arrange for appropriate information and training.
- The Workplace (Health, Safety And Welfare) Regulations 1992
These regulations cover a wide range of basic health, safety and welfare issues including traffic routes for vehicles within the workplace.
- Road Traffic Acts Supported by the Hi-way Code
The Highway Code applies to all road users and includes information on signs and markings, road users, the law and driving penalties.
It is an offence for an organisation to set driver schedules which may cause them to break speed limits, misuse tachograph equipment or data. Or have payment schemes which incentivise them to do so.
- EC Drivers Hours Rules, UK Drivers Hours Rules
Tacograph Regulations. The Road Transport (Working Times) regulations 2005
It is the drivers and employers responsibility to ensure compliance with drivers hours and Tacograph Regulations. They are applicable to goods vehicles in excess of 3.5 tonnes.
Tacographs must be used to record hours of driving, other work, breaks and rest periods. The newer digital tachograph record cards make this task a lot simpler but they are more refined in capturing data.
- The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1996
Provides information regarding the safety of loads on vehicles, and the provision, conformity and type of lamps etc fitted to vehicles.
- Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
The act introduces an important new option for certain very serious senior management failures whcih result in fatality. Prosecutions will be of the corporate body, not individuals, but the ability to prosecute directors or other individuals under health and safety law, or the general criminal law, in appropriate cases, will be unaffected. The coporate body itself and individuals can also still be prosecuted for seperate health and safety offences.
What do the Health and Safety regulations actually say?
The Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations 1999 state:
"Risk assessment
Section 3. (1) Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking – for the purpose of identifying the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions and by Part II of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997."
Section 3 (2) imposes similar conditions on self-employed personnel regarding
their own safety, while Section 3 (3) says:
"Any assessment such as is referred to in paragraph (1) or (2) shall be reviewed by the employer or self employed person who made it if a) there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid; or b) there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates; and where as a result of any such review, changes to an assessment are required, the employer or self-employed person concerned shall make them."
Paragraph 6 (of section 3) adds:
"Where the employer employs five or more employees, he shall record a) the significant findings of the assessment; and b) any group of his employees identified by it as being especially at risk."
Section 7 (1) makes it clear that every employer should "appoint one or more competent persons to assist him in undertaking the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements", while 7 (5) says such a person should have "sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to enable him properly to assist in undertaking the measures referred in paragraph (1)."
Law says individual risk assessments for each company driver must be carried out
Companies operating fleets of vehicles can no longer afford to adopt an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude towards their drivers, once they leave the car park.
The Government recently-published (March 2000) Road Safety Strategy hinted at the need for employers needed to do more, but failed to spell out clearly enough the action company directors and managers must take to stay within the law.
Basically there are two steps you should take to stay out of trouble, and ensure your drivers are as safe as they can be.
1). Carry out safety assessments on all staff, covering ALL their activities during their time at work – including any time behind the wheel.
2). Take remedial action where necessary – if staff appear at risk from any activity (including driving).
Obviously in the case of drivers, this might entail special theory or on-road training.
For your own peace of mind and (that of your colleagues!) the following pages might help.
