Motorists face new fixed penalties for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving from 27 February – the fine doubles to £60 and three penalty points will be given.
Yet, according to Peninsula BusinessWise, 77 per cent of bosses fail to monitor whether road-based workers use mobiles sensibly while driving.
Even worse, according to its survey 74 per cent of bosses do not realise it’s illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving.
David Passfield, specialist consultant at Peninsula, said: “This new regulation should be given consideration, because many bosses may have inserted clauses in their contracts of employment stating that any drivers in the company must have a clean license with no penalty points.
“It is common sense for bosses to ensure that if their employees are using mobile phones, they are doing so safely, because employers have a duty of care towards their employees.”
Suggestions include:
- Encouraging workers who need to use phones to stop their car before making the call
- Providing hands-free kits.
But he warned hands-free kits should be used with care as it is possible that the conversation could distract attention away from driving.
One Response
HR’s role?
Any company who provides staff with a mobile phone, should in my opinion provide a hand free kit as well.
From a H&S point of view it would be interesting the see the HSE get involved in a road accident where a person was using the phone at the time, and to see where the liability lies when organisations have failed to take simple and low cost action:
1) tell staff (regularly) not to use phones while driving
2) only buy phones that are available with proper car kits (most on the market now do not!)
How many companies give employess copies of the risk assessments of using a phone while driving? I believe that all good employers have undertaken a risk assessments of this very safe activity 🙂
Mike