Vehicle Safety Procedure Blog

Recently, HAZCON has been asked, should companies have a Vehicle Safety Procedure?

Regardless to what health and safety legislation your organisation is current under, the duty holder must establish a system of work that identifies risks to the business and employees when operating company vehicles, including plant operating on public roads.

In some cases, employees may lose their motor vehicle licence for a nominated time and may wear that risk without informing their employer to maintain their employment, which I might add is highly illegal as the employee has failed with their duty in accordance with the applicable Health and Safety legislation by putting themselves and other at risk from their actions and/or omission.

Consider mitigating this risk through the development and implementation of a Vehicle Safety Procedure that captures:

• Individual licencing details;
• Processes to support employees who may lose their licence for a period of time;
• Consultative methods as employees should be given the opportunity to provide comment and feedback on the feasibility and usefulness of measures set out in any draft policy and procedure;
• Maintaining licence currency through internal inspections and/or audits;
• Rules around distractions and driver fatigue;
• Regular vehicle inspections and/or servicing; and
• Competency of the vehicle drivers.

The safety regulator has developed guidance material that could be used when developing these procedures. A good starting point is your applicable safety authority, such as WorkSafe Victoria or the National Transport Commission (NTC).