Tight schedules, unexpected demands, and unfamiliarity with routes and locations puts community and home care workers at high risk when they drive. Implementing measures that reduce their driving risks will help keep employees safer. And, it will help prevent costly crashes. Having strong road safety policies and practices is also part of your legal responsibilities as an employer.
“Whether your employees drive a company vehicle or their own, employers in BC are responsible for the safety of their employees when they drive for work,” said Mark Ordeman, acting manager, WorkSafeBC industry and labour services. “That’s because a car is a workplace, the same way a construction site, a factory floor or a warehouse are workplaces.”
As such, you need to know your legal obligations to your employees who drive. This includes ensuring they are qualified for the driving you assign and that the cars they drive are roadworthy and equipped properly for the conditions they will face.
“Some employers might not realize this, but they have a responsibility to verify employees have the necessary driving competencies before they assign them driving for work,” said Rick Walters, Road Safety at Work, Fleet Safety program manager. “A good place to start is to check employee driver abstracts at least once a year. Doing so will give you insight into potential driving issues and help you determine whether training is required to bring employee driving skills up to speed.”
Regularly assessing employee driving skills and behaviours is another employer right and responsibility as is ensuring the vehicles your employees drive are safe. If employees drive in winter conditions, this means ensuring their vehicles are equipped with winter tires.
“If you haven’t given road safety much thought before now, I suggest you start by visiting roadsafetyatwork.ca,” says Joanna Wyatt, program director, Road Safety at Work. “The website is full of free information, tools, resources and online courses you can use to build or improve road safety policies and practices in your organization.”
“Even if motor vehicles crashes haven’t been an issue to date, all it takes is one serious injury or even worse, a fatality, to bring your safety program under scrutiny,” said Mark Ordeman.
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