How ‘Driving at Work’ legislation affects your business.
The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 requires you to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, 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 activities. This applies to every size of business, including the self-employed.
Under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, you have 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 your work activities.
The Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007 further reinforced the above legislation. Under the Act, employers have a Duty of Care to ensure the safety of employees driving for work purposes. The revised legislation makes it easier to prosecute companies for manslaughter following a work related death.
Companies that are prosecuted under this Act are highly unlikely to face a fine of less than £500,000, no matter how small they are, according to the Sentencing Guidance Council.
The Health & Safety Offences Act 2008 raised the maximum penalty that can be imposed by the lower courts, for less serious offences, from £5,000 to £20,000.
This legislation applies to all work-related driving (though not commuting), whether in a company vehicle or one that is privately owned.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers have a statutory duty – they are required – ‘ to carry out an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees’ and that ‘includes any driving activity on the road’