Work related road risk

Seat belts 

As an Employer, you will often require your staff to drive as part of their job requirements for you.  As a result, you will be responsible for the “provision and use” of these vehicles whether they are:

• Provided by you directed (company-owned);
• Provided by you (hired, leased); or
• Provided by Employees.

There is a new law expected later this year regarding seatbelts.  Currently, a failure for a driver to wear a seatbelt carries a fine of up to £500.  Drivers also must ensure passengers wear a belt and any passengers under 13 (and over 135cm tall) wear a belt or are in an appropriate car seat.

The new law is set to introduce adding 3 points to your license for this offence which may also result in a ban.  This law is being applied as compliance is beginning to drop since the original seat belt law was introduced nearly 40 years ago:

   In 2016, 25% of road deaths involved a vehicle occupant not wearing a belt.

• In 2018, this figure rose to 31% and saw as many as 261 people killed on the road while not wearing a belt.
• Wearing rates fall at night too as drivers know it’s more difficult for the police to spot whether someone is wearing a belt or not.
• The age group most likely not to wear a belt are between 17-24.

Work-Related Road Risk

Every year there are about 40,000 people will be involved in a work-related road traffic accident which results in reported injuries, and countless others will suffer stress, anxiety and/or minor injuries from unreported incidents.

Every week there are approximately 200 deaths and serious injuries involving people using the road for work.  This excludes commuting to a permanent place of work but includes driving vehicles of any type on the road to travel to/between other work locations or to make collections/deliveries, whether this be on a regular or occasional basis.

These issues need to be reflected in your Vehicle Safety Management System.  You will already be aware of the requirement to establish a comprehensive Vehicle Safety Policy to outline the duties and responsibilities for all of the arrangements around the provision and use of such vehicles.

Your policy should also cover a myriad of arrangements not limited to checking if a vehicle is taxed, checking MOT history, managing mobile phone use, managing Insurances (either Company or Individual), etc.  Expect a suitable Policy to run to about 30 pages.