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Health
& Safety
Summary
of Health and Safety at Work Act 1973
Your
Legal Responsibilites
The
Health and Safety at Work Act requires you to ensure, so
far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety
of all employees while at work. You also have a responsibility
to ensure that others are not put at risk by your work-related
driving activities. (Self-employed people have a similar
responsibility to that of employers.) Under the Management
of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 you have a
responsibility to manage health and safety effectively.
You need to carry out an assessment of the risks to the
health and safety of your employees, while they are at work,
and to other people who may be affected by their work activities.
The Regulations require you to periodically review your
risk assessment so that it remains appropriate. You are
required to consult with your employees, and where applicable,
their health safety representatives, on the health and safety
issues covered in this guidance.
Monitoring
Do
you monitor performance to ensure that your work-related
road safety policy is effective? Are your employees encouraged
to report all work-related road incidents without fear that
punitive action will be taken against them? Do you collect
sufficient information to allow you to make informed decisions
about the effectiveness of existing policy and the need
for changes?
Risk
Assessment
Risk
assessments for any work-related driving activity should
follow the same principles as risk assessments for any other
work activity. You should bear in mind that failure to properly
manage work-related road safety is more likely to endanger
other people than a failure to properly manage risks in
the workplace.
- Are
your schedules realistic? Do journey times take account
of road types and condition, and allow for rest breaks?
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Would you expect a non-vocational driver to drive and
work for longer than a professional driver? The Highway
Code recommends that drivers should take a 15 minute break
every two hours. Professional drivers must of course comply
with drivers’ hours rules.
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Does company policy put drivers under pressure and encourage
them to take unnecessary risks, eg to exceed safe speeds
because of agreed arrival times?
Reduce the Risk
Try
to avoid situations where employees feel under pressure,
eg avoid making unrealistic claims about delivery schedules
and attendance which may encourage drivers to drive too
fast for the conditions, or exceed speed limits.
Record
your findings
Employers
with five or more employees are required to record the significant
findings of their risk assessment. You must also tell your
employees about what you have done. Your risk assessment
must be suitable and sufficient. You need to be able to
show that:
-
a proper check was made;
- you
consulted those who might be affected;
-
you dealt with all the obvious hazards.
Review
your assessment and revise it if necessary
You
will need to monitor and review your assessment to ensure
that the risks to those who drive, and others, are suitably
controlled. For this to be effective you need to have a
system for gathering, recording and analysing information
about road incidents. You should also record details of
driver and vehicle history. You may also need to review
your assessment to take account of changing circumstances,
eg the introduction of new routes, new equipment or a change
in vehicle specification. Such a review should seek the
views of employees and safety representatives where appointed.
It is good practice to review your assessment from time
to time to ensure that precautions are still controlling
the risks effectively.
Evaluating the Risks – Driver Competency
Are
you satisfied that your drivers are competent and capable
of doing their work in a way that is safe for them and other
people?
1.
Does the job require anything more than a current driving
licence, valid for the type of vehicle to be driven?
2. Do your recruitment procedures include appropriate
pre-appointment checks, eg do you always take up references?
3. Do you check the validity of the driving licence on
recruitment and periodically thereafter?
4. Do you specifically check the validity of any LGV/PSV
driving entitlements as part of your recruitment procedures
and periodically thereafter? Such entitlements may not
have been restored after a period of disqualification.
Police
Intervention
The
police will, in most cases, continue to take the lead on
the investigation of road traffic incidents on the public
highway. Enforcement action by HSE will usually be confined
to incidents where the police identify that management failures
have been a significant contributory factor in the incident.
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CLICK
HERE >> to download the full PDF of
Managing Work-Related Road Safety from the Health
and Safety Executive.
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