The following guide forms part of the standard for workforce policies. These policies apply to all eligible staff within NHS Scotland, regardless of the board you are employed by.

What is the purpose of the Work-related Driving Policy?

This policy aims to:

• Raise awareness of the safety issues around work-related driving.
• Assess and manage all driving-related risks through safe procedures and training.
• Reduce injuries and incidents from work-related driving.

Who is covered by this policy?

This policy applies to everyone working within NHS Scotland. That includes all employees, plus bank, agency, and sessional workers, volunteers, contractors, and anyone on placement, such as students or trainees.

Manager responsibilities

As a manager, you are responsible for the safety of your team when they drive for work. You should:

• Know the policy and make sure your employees are aware of it.
• Check documents to ensure drivers have valid paperwork like licences and insurance.
• Assess the risks by carrying out and regularly reviewing risk assessments.
• Implement safe systems of work to reduce driving incidents.
• Support your team if an incident occurs.
• Investigate and record all reported incidents to improve safety.

Assessing risks

You must have suitable risk assessments with effective control measures in place for all work-related driving safety issues. These should cover normal work and any foreseeable issues, be reviewed regularly, based on the risk level, and shared with your employees.

Managing risk

You should aim to reduce risks to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable. You will need to assess each type of work-related driving situation with a person-centred approach to inform the necessary action. 

Risk assessment process

Identifying employees who carry out work-related driving

First, you need to identify who in your team drives for work. This includes anyone driving a work vehicle or using their own car for business purposes.

Identifying risks

You must consider a range of risks related to the driver, the vehicle, and the journey. Factors you should consider when carrying out any assessment include the following: 

• Does the employee have the correct licence for the vehicle?
• Is the vehicle roadworthy?
• Is the person medically fit to drive?
• Are they trained and qualified for the specific driving task?
• Are there plans for rest breaks on long journeys? Find out more about the rules for drivers' hours in the UK
• Are there clear emergency procedures?
• Is there a system for contacting and tracing drivers?
• Does the employee understand their responsibilities regarding seatbelts and mobile phone use?

Download Combined risk assessment form.

Assessing risks

You should review any general risk assessments from your board. You should then complete specific checks for your local area or individual drivers.

You must consider all identified risks, including an employee's medical fitness to drive.

You should assess each of the identified risks, for example, when assessing medical suitability to drive. Long-term and newly acquired conditions, injuries, treatment and medication can affect a person’s fitness to drive. This may be on a temporary or permanent basis.

Conditions include visual deterioration, Parkinson’s disease, sleep apnoea, and seizures. A full list of notifiable medical conditions is available on the GOV.UK website.

An employee may be required to drive or transport items on behalf of their board. In this situation, you should make sure that they have the appropriate qualifications, such as the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).   

You should include the details you have considered when carrying out the risk assessment. This should include: 

• the extent and nature of the risks 
• factors that contribute to the risk, including job content and specific tasks and activities 
• the safe systems of work to be followed to eliminate or reduce the risk.

Putting control measures in place and developing safe systems of work

You should assess the effectiveness of the existing control measures and review them as necessary. Risks should be reduced to the lowest possible level.

Issues to consider include:  

• security lighting in parking areas 
• using monitoring systems including vehicle trackers where available 
• communication systems for sharing information on risk as appropriate  
• correct usage of seatbelt and safety systems
• correct usage of mobile phones

If a risk assessment shows a journey cannot be done safely, you must make other arrangements.

You must put effective control measures in place to manage the risks you've identified. This includes:

• Annual checks of licences, appropriate insurance, and an MOT certificate.
• Providing guidance on rest breaks. Find out more about the rules for drivers hours in the UK.
• The procedures to be followed in the event of an issue or emergency. All employees must be familiar with these local protocols. 

Information from the risk assessment should be recorded and passed to all relevant employees. 

Employee training

You should make sure your employees get the right training for their role, based on their risk assessment. This includes regular refresher training to keep their skills up to date.

Reporting and recording

You should make sure your employees report all incidents to you as soon as they happen. These should be reported on the appropriate system including Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) where appropriate. You should make sure all incidents are followed up and investigated as appropriate. 

Useful links

• The Highway Code
• HSE—Driving and riding safely for work
• GB domestic drivers' hours rules (GOV.UK)