Assessing Risks on the Road

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.

A risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of what at work activities can cause harm to people. It helps you to weigh up whether you have done enough to ensure safe working practices or should do more to prevent harm. Your risk assessment should be appropriate to the circumstances of your organisation and does not have to be over complex or technical. It should be carried out by a competent person with a practical knowledge of the work activities being assessed. For most small businesses, and the self-employed, the hazards will be easy to identify. Employers who employ less than five people do not have to record their findings, but they may find it helpful to make some notes.

The aim is to make the risk of someone being injured or killed, as low as possible. See Five steps to risk assessment⁴ for more information.

Hazard means anything that can cause harm.

Risk is the chance, high or low, that someone will be harmed by the hazard.

Steps to risk assessment

Step 1 – Look for hazards that may result in harm when driving on public roads. Remember to ask your employees, or their representatives, what they think as they will have first hand experience of what happens in practice. You need the views of those who drive extensively, but also get the views of those who only use the roads occasionally. The range of hazards will be wide and the main areas to think about are the driver, the vehicle and the journey. See ‘Evaluating the risks’ for some suggestions.

Step 2 – Decide who might be harmed. In almost all cases this will be the driver, but it might also include passengers, other road users and/or pedestrians. You should also consider whether there are any groups who may be particularly at risk, such as young or newly qualified drivers and those driving long distances.

Step 3 – Evaluate the risk and decide whether existing precautions are adequate or more should be done. You need to consider how likely it is that each hazard will cause harm. This will determine whether or not you need to do more to reduce the risk. It is likely that some risks will remain even after all precautions are taken. What you have to decide for each significant hazard is whether the remaining risk is acceptable. More detailed advice on evaluating the risks in each of the topic areas mentioned under Step 1 is given in the next section of this guidance.

Ask yourself whether you can eliminate the hazard, eg hold a telephone or videoconference instead of making people travel to a meeting. If not, you should think about how to control the risk, to reduce the possibility of harm, applying the principles set out below. These should be considered in the following order, if possible:

■ Consider whether your policy on the allocation of company cars actively encourages employees to drive rather than consider alternative means of transport.

■ Consider an alternative to driving, eg going at least part of the way by train.

■ 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.

■ Organise maintenance work to reduce the risk of vehicle failure, eg ensure that maintenance schedules are in place and that vehicles are regularly checked by a competent person to ensure they are safe.

■ Ensure that drivers and passengers are adequately protected in the event of an incident, eg ensure that seatbelts, and where installed airbags, are correctly fitted, work properly and are used. For those who ride motorcycles and other two-wheeled vehicles, crash helmets and protective clothing should be of the appropriate standard.

■ Ensure that company policy covers the important aspects of the Highway Code,¹ such as not exceeding speed limits.

Step 4 – Record your findings. Employers with five or more employees are required to record the significant findings of their risk assessment. If you have fewer than five employees you do not have to write anything down, though it is useful to keep a written record. 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.

Step 5 – 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 repesentatives where appointed.

It is good practice to review your assessment from time to time to ensure that precautions are still controlling the risks effectively.