Fleet managers are being urged to include driver audits in their licence-checking and risk prevention strategy by the Licence Bureau, the independent licence and compliance-checking company.
It is advising fleets to ensure that both drivers and non-drivers are fully aware of their health and safety responsibilities. All businesses are obliged to guarantee ' as much as is reasonably practical ' that the health, safety and welfare of employees is properly managed in the workplace, which includes driving on business.
This includes making sure all employees remain compliant and aware of general company policy towards using a mobile phone at the wheel, fatigue, general well-being and eyesight.
Employee audits should also include bespoke questions for any specific equipment or vehicles that staff operate which is crucial step in ensuring employees with medical conditions are properly managed.
With many fleets employing staff from overseas, the Hemel Hempstead-based company is also reminding fleets not to overlook basic Right to Work checks for employees, to verify their eligibility to work in the UK, including the checking of key documents for all employees including driving licences, passports and visas outlining restrictions to the work they can carry out.
'Without proper checks, organisations could be liable for prosecution under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, posing a substantial risk to the business,' says Malcolm Maycock, managing director of Licence Bureau.
'And failing to recognise any specific circumstances that relate to employees driving on business could pose a substantial threat to a company's risk prevention strategy.'
