Driving for Work

An employee driving a vehicle on public roads as part of their job is at work, and the employer has the same health and safety duties they would for any other workplace activity. HSE figures put work-related driving among the biggest sources of workplace fatalities, with estimates that around a quarter to a third of all road deaths and serious injuries involve someone driving for work.

This article covers the H&S risks of driving for work - the risks to the driver, passengers, and other road users. The management side of drivers (licence checks, competence, declarations, authorisation) is covered in the companion article on Managing Drivers.

What the Law Requires on Driving for Work

In the UK, a driver is covered by two parallel legal regimes when driving for work:

Road traffic law - the Road Traffic Act 1988, Highway Code, speed limits, mobile phone offences, drink and drug driving, driver hours regulations for HGV/PCV drivers. These apply to the driver personally.
Health and safety law - the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. These apply to the employer for any work-related driving by employees.

HSE guidance INDG382 "Driving for work" is the standard reference. It sets out that driving for work must be managed through risk assessment and controls, not treated as something separate from the rest of the H&S system. The duty applies regardless of whether the vehicle is a company vehicle or the employee's own car used for business journeys ("grey fleet").

In serious cases, failure to manage work-related driving can attract corporate liability. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has been applied where a fatal road incident resulted from a gross failure of the employer to manage driving risk.

Work-Related Road Risk Assessment

A driving risk assessment looks at three connected elements:

The driver - competence, fitness, eyesight, medical conditions, fatigue, hours, experience of the vehicle type.
The vehicle - roadworthiness, maintenance, suitability for the task and the load, safety equipment, visibility aids, technology.
The journey - route, distance, time of day, weather, workload pressures, delivery schedules, known risks on the route.

The output is a set of controls that reduces the overall risk to as low as reasonably practicable. It should be documented, communicated to drivers, and reviewed when circumstances change (new vehicles, new routes, new staff, incidents). Grey fleet users need their own assessment - the risks are often higher because the employer has less control over vehicle condition and insurance cover.

Fatigue and Driver Fitness

Fatigue is one of the most common causes of serious work-related road incidents. HSE and Department for Transport guidance suggests drivers take at least a 20-minute break every two hours, and avoid driving when overly tired. Controls that work:

Realistic schedules - journeys planned with sufficient time for the distance, conditions and breaks. Time pressures drive shortcuts and unsafe behaviour.
Working time limits - driving hours are counted alongside other working time. A day that involves eight hours of other work plus a long drive home is a fatigue risk even if the driving portion alone is short.
Overnight stops - for long journeys or early/late starts, an overnight stay avoids the high-risk tired drive home.
Medical fitness - drivers should report medical conditions or medications that could affect driving. Some conditions require notification to the DVLA.
Eyesight - drivers must be able to read a number plate at 20.5 metres. Regular eyesight checks (every six months is a practical default) catch deterioration before it causes an incident.

Mobile Phones and In-Vehicle Technology

Using a hand-held mobile phone while driving is a criminal offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended). The offence applies to any interaction with the device - phoning, texting, scrolling, taking photos - and applies whether the vehicle is moving or stationary with the engine running.

Hands-free use is permitted but creates cognitive distraction and is not always a safe alternative. Employers should consider whether hands-free calls during driving are necessary, and set expectations that drivers can pull over safely if a call is genuinely urgent. Voicemail and "driving" auto-reply messages are a better default than live engagement.

In-cab technology (telematics, sat nav, driver-assist systems) needs careful thought. The same features that improve safety (lane warnings, collision mitigation) can also distract a driver who is not used to them. Drivers should be briefed on the technology in their vehicle before driving it on a business journey.

Safe Driving Behaviours

The expected behaviours of a driver on business are set out in the driving policy but amount to the following:

Observing speed limits, the Highway Code and all road traffic laws.
No alcohol or drugs before or during driving.
Driving considerately, anticipating hazards, avoiding conflict with other road users.
Looking out for vulnerable road users - pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, horse riders.
Using seat belts, carrying required documents, reporting medical conditions or changes.
Securing loads properly, not overloading, not driving an unroadworthy vehicle.
Taking breaks, not driving while tired.

These are not optional preferences - they are the expected standard for any driver at work, and departure from them is a disciplinary matter. The policy should be acknowledged by every driver (via a driver declaration) before they are authorised to drive on business.

Incident Response

If an employee is involved in a road traffic incident while driving for work:

Stop - failing to stop at the scene is a criminal offence.
Call emergency services if anyone is injured or the incident blocks the road.
Report to management promptly - before making any statement to third parties except the police.
Take details - other driver(s), witnesses, vehicle registrations, photos if safe to do so.
Do not admit liability at the scene - insurers need a neutral account first.

All road incidents involving a business vehicle or business driving must be reported internally, regardless of fault or severity. Some may also trigger RIDDOR reporting duties, particularly where the incident resulted from a work activity (loading, unloading, connected with the work itself rather than pure road-traffic circumstances).

Driving for work is one of the H&S risks that gets systematically underestimated. Employers who would never allow an employee near machinery without training, certification and PPE will happily send the same employee out in a car for an 80-mile drive in the rain after a full day's work, without giving the journey any thought at all. The statistics on work-related road deaths reflect that complacency.

The single biggest shift I push for is treating a business journey the same as any other work activity - it needs a plan, it needs the right person and the right vehicle, and it needs to factor in fatigue. A driver who has been on-site since 7am doing physical work is not fit to do a three-hour drive home at 9pm. The law does not care that the "work" part is over.

And on grey fleet - this is the biggest blind spot in most organisations. Employees use their own cars for business, and no one has checked whether the insurance covers business use, whether the car is roadworthy, or whether the driver's licence is current. One bad incident and the company has a much bigger problem than a company vehicle would have caused.

We did a driving-for-work review a few years ago and found we were sending drivers out with no grey-fleet controls at all. Business insurance not checked, licences not verified, no declarations, no consideration of journey planning. Tightened all of that up through a driver declaration process and annual licence checks, and the insurance reviewer gave us a premium reduction the following year.

The other change that made a difference was re-planning a few routine journeys. We had a customer visit that two staff members were doing as a day trip - three hours each way plus a full day's meetings. Switched to an overnight stay. Cost of hotel and meals was under £100; reduction in fatigue-driven risk on the return journey was substantial.

Driving for work is work. Same rules apply. Plan the journey, make sure the driver is fit, make sure the vehicle is safe, give them time to do it properly and take breaks. If you would not put an employee on a machine without checking they knew how to use it and were not too tired, do not put them behind the wheel without the same thought.

Practical Compliance Guidance

Section 7 of the IMS1 Manual covers the operational H&S management requirements including driving for work. It frames work-related road risk as part of the integrated hazard management system, linked to risk assessment, training, vehicle management and incident response.

The alphaZ documents below cover the policy, procedural guidance, risk assessments, driver handbook and toolbox talk for a compliant driving for work arrangement.

alphaZ document	How to use it
ISO 9001 14001 45001 IMS Toolkit	The full integrated toolkit for ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001. Contains the procedural documents, forms and guidance needed to set up and run a compliant management system including driving for work arrangements.
PP-1-01 Driving and Use of Vehicles Policy Procedure	The policy-procedure document covering driving for work, company vehicle use, own-vehicle use, competence, safe driving expectations and incident reporting. Use as the written procedure for the management system.
PP-7-100 Health and Safety Policy Procedure	A single integrated H&S policy-procedure covering driving for work alongside PPE, COSHH, manual handling and the other core H&S topics. Use as an alternative if you prefer one umbrella H&S procedure over separate topic-specific ones.
GG-1-01 Safe Driving Guidance	Plain-English guidance for drivers covering safe driving expectations, fatigue, mobile phones, route planning and incident response. Issue alongside training and the driver handbook.
Drivers Handbook	A combined handbook for employees driving for work covering the policy, expectations, safe driving, and what to do in the event of an incident. Issue to all drivers as part of their induction.
RA-HS39 Driving and Deliveries Risk Assessment	Risk assessment template covering driving for work and delivery activities. Tailor to your vehicles, routes and drivers and review when circumstances change.
RA-HS46 In-Vehicle Technology Risk Assessment	Focused risk assessment covering in-cab technology, mobile phones and driver distraction. Use alongside RA-HS39 where telematics, hands-free systems or other vehicle technology is in use.
TT Safe Driving Toolbox Talk	Briefing material for team meetings. Covers the key safe driving points for employees who drive on business and provides evidence of awareness training when signed.

Note - all the above files can be downloaded with an alphaZ subscription.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does driving for work include the commute?

Ordinary commuting between home and a fixed place of work is not usually considered driving for work. But travel between work locations during the day, travel to customer sites, travel from home to a temporary or mobile work location, and any journey where the vehicle is part of the job (delivery, service call, sales visit) is driving for work. The distinction matters for both H&S duty and insurance - a driver who thinks they are commuting when in fact they are on a business journey may not have the right insurance cover.

What is "grey fleet" and why is it a concern?

Grey fleet refers to vehicles owned privately by an employee but used for business journeys - most often the employee's own car claimed on business mileage. It is a concern because the employer has less direct control over the vehicle's condition, maintenance, MOT status and insurance cover than they would for a company vehicle. Many personal motor policies exclude business use unless specifically added. Employers with grey fleet exposure should require proof of business insurance cover and valid MOT, and should assess the risk in the same way as company vehicles.

Is hands-free phone use during driving acceptable?

Legally, hands-free is permitted while driving - handheld use is a criminal offence, hands-free is not. But research shows hands-free calls still cause significant cognitive distraction, and there is no legal safe harbour if a hands-free call contributes to an incident. Good practice is to treat hands-free as permitted but discouraged for non-urgent work, with clear expectations that drivers can let calls go to voicemail and return them from a safe stopping point. Some employers go further and prohibit any phone use (including hands-free) while driving for work.

Do road traffic incidents need to be reported under RIDDOR?

Most road traffic incidents are excluded from RIDDOR because they are already covered by separate road accident reporting. The exceptions are where the incident involved loading or unloading, an escape of substance from the vehicle, or an activity connected with the vehicle but not road traffic itself (for example, maintenance or cleaning on a public road). In those cases RIDDOR reporting applies. All road incidents should still be investigated internally regardless of RIDDOR status.

UK Legislation

The following UK legislation is directly relevant to driving for work. Organisations outside the UK should identify the equivalent legislation applicable in their jurisdiction.

Further Resources