A worrying number of employers are unaware that they have a shared responsibility to ensure that employees are fit to drive if doing so in the course of their work.
According to a survey conducted among more than 200 employers by Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, however, 57% believe that responsibility for ensuring that their eyesight is up to scratch is the responsibility of the individual.
Some 37% understood that they were accountable, while 6% didn’t know.
Laura Butler, the company’s corporate account manager, said: “This is a particularly confusing area of legislation. By law, each individual is responsible for ensuring they are fit to drive. However, employers have a duty of care.”
This means that if employees are driving in the course of their work, “this responsibility becomes shared with the employer”, she added.
The Health and Safety Executive indicates that health and safety law applies to on-the-road work activities and that any risks should be managed within a health and safety management system, Butler explained.
As to what legal checks need to be undertaken, 77% cited an ability to see across long distances, 70% short distances and 69% to be able to read a number plate at 20.5 metres and have good peripheral vision.
In reality, however, individuals who are not professional drivers such as couriers or lorry drivers and simply need to drive to a meeting or undertake site visits, by law only have to be able to read a number plate from a distance of 20.5 metres.
