Opinion: Why you need a driving for work policy

By Simon Turner, campaign manager for Driving for Better Business

You’re a Fleet News reader so naturally, you have a driving for work policy for your organisation. Don’t you...?

If you do, when did you last review it? Has any legislation changed since you created it? Would it stand up to scrutiny if there was an investigation following a crash involving one of your people? 

And if all employees in your company were asked about the driving for work policy: Do they know about it? Have they seen it?

A comprehensive and current driving for work policy is the first essential step for any employer with staff who drive for work.

We have created a new, free online Driving for Work Policy Builder, to help you ensure you have a ‘good practice’ policy tailored to your own organisation.

It will help employers create, review, store and update their own policy and it will cover all the key risks for managing policies: drivers, vehicles and journeys.

Why you need a driving for work policy

There are almost 40,000 injuries on Britain’s roads each year that involve someone who was driving for work.

If you want to ensure your employees are not part of the problem, it’s vital to set out the importance of driver safety - and the standards you expect when your staff are driving for work.

• It is the right thing to do – we all want our staff and other road users to get home to their families safe and well at the end of each day.
• It makes good business sense. Poorly managed drivers will cost you more: higher insurance, increased servicing and maintenance costs, more speeding tickets and greater fuel use.
• It is a legal requirement: the law says all companies must have policies and procedures to minimise risk – and that includes the recognised risks around driving. In the event of a serious incident, you could be asked to prove that you and your organisation have taken reasonable steps to protect your drivers and other road users.

Your driving for work policy is how you demonstrate your commitment to doing this well.

What should be included to meet legal and compliance standards?

• A statement explaining why the policy exists and why it is important that drivers follow it.
• A section covering licence checks, medical conditions, driver competence and fitness to drive including impairment, fatigue and wellbeing.
• A vehicle section including roadworthiness, loading, security, private use of vehicles and towing, if applicable.
• A journey section including driving standards, use of mobile phones, dealing with fines and penalties, and what to do in the event of a collision or breakdown.
• A grey fleet drivers section – an area often missed but every time an employee uses their own vehicle for any work purpose, they are covered by your driving for work policy.
• There’s no ‘one policy fits all fleets’. Users must check the policy wording and amend where necessary – for example to include transporting hazardous goods.

Once you’ve created your profile on the online policy builder, you’ll be able to:

• Access a driving for work policy template and checklist to make sure you’ve got everything covered;
• Create a policy document that meets legal and compliance standards;
• Get email alerts for any changes in guidance or legislation that could affect your policy;
• Receive an annual reminder to review your policy – plus any changes that may be required since the last review.

Getting driver buy-in

• It must be realistic, consistently applied, and reinforced regularly.
• Bring drivers in at an early stage: ask them what increases risk to their journeys and how that might be avoided.
• Demonstrate how it benefits them, that it can be easily followed, and that other things won’t interfere with their ability to comply.
• Make sure the rules apply to everyone: penalising van drivers for using a mobile phone will not go down well if managers and directors routinely get away with the same behaviour.
• Reinforce the policy regularly, review compliance, and demonstrate the benefits that have been achieved to help everyone understand its importance.

We work with the Health & Safety Executive, DVSA, Department for Transport (DfT), TSO (which produces the Highway Code) and National Highways, so can keep you updated whenever official guidance or legislation changes in a way that needs to be reflected in your driver policy.