Danger! Your car at work

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Poor health & safety provision
Employers fail to check condition of cars
Bosses risk corporate manslaughter charges

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Britain's employers are failing in their duty of care to workers who use their own car on business – the so-called 'grey' fleet.

That's the finding of a new report by fleet management company Arval, which uncovered a huge gulf between the health and safety provision for those running company cars and those using their own vehicle at work.

More than half (53%) of businesses fail to check drivers using their own car are properly insured. Over a third (35%) don't check drivers hold a valid licence, and almost three quarters (74%) fail to check for a valid MoT certificate.

The report also found that employees who use their own cars were less likely to receive driver training, or be kept up to date with changes in the law.

Commenting on Arval's study, the executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS), Robert Gifford, said: 'The initiatives put in place by employers to improve the safety of their company car drivers are in grave danger of being undone by grey fleet drivers who are not managed, policed or monitored to the same degree.'

Gifford believes company bosses must do more to keep their employees safe, or risk prosecution under the new Corporate Manslaughter Act if a grey fleet driver causes an accident.