DRIVING - 25.11.2011

Should you allow hands-free phone use?

Banned

When the use of hand-held phones while driving became an offence in 2003, many employers looked at the alternatives and decided that the best policy was to ban it completely. This avoided additional equipment costs and meant that your policy was black and white, with no room for employee “interpretation”. However, taking such a line means that employees driving alone are completely out of contact, potentially for the best part of the day. Plus, you may find that some employees routinely ignore the rules.

Hands-free device

The alternative is for the company to ensure that regular drivers have hands-free devices. Whereas in the past the best way of getting a good clear signal was to install a costly wired-in kit, there are now much better options. Many vehicles come with built in Bluetooth or phone dock facilities. For those which don’t, you can buy a portable device which clips onto the sun visor at a cost of around £50. But you can’t install hands-free and assume your work is done. The practice of using a mobile phone whilst driving still needs to be controlled.

Why worry about rules for hands-free?

Whilst there is no specific road traffic offence involved, using a hands-free phone whilst driving can result in charges of careless, or even dangerous, driving in the wrong circumstances. Researchers have found that using a phone, regardless of whether it’s being held, is distracting and slows reaction times.

Consequences

An employer who ignores the issue could be charged under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 if their working practices led to employees or others being put at risk from the company’s driving activities. On top of this there’s the risk of a civil claim, so it’s certainly an area worthy of management time and effort.

Establishing ground rules

There are some general common sense rules to apply:

Tip 1. Use a driving policy to ban your employees from ever using hand-held phones, mobile computers or similar devices whilst driving (see The next step).

Tip 2. Unless you’re sure a ban on using phones when driving is working, provide hands-free sets for regular drivers.

Tip 3. Phones used with hands-free kits should be set up with voice activation, i.e. to avoid the need to press anything to answer.

Tip 4. Office staff dialling a colleague’s mobile number should check whether the individual is driving. If they are, they should ask the driver to phone back once they are parked up.

Tip 5. Make sure these rules are enforced. If you turn a blind eye to staff breaking them, you could still end up in court.

For a free updated driving policy, visit http://healthandsafety.indicator.co.uk (HS 10.06.05).