Do you have employees who drive for work purposes? Are you aware of everyone who does so for your company? Most importantly, do you have policies and procedures in place for checking motor vehicle records on all employees who drive for work purposes, and is your staff aware of the policies?

Some insurance companies have requirements for employee driving checks in the insurance policy. Do you know if your insurance company requires driving checks? If so, are you in compliance with that requirement?

When an employee drives for work purposes, regardless of who the vehicle belongs to – the employee, the company, or a car rental service – they represent your company and if they have an accident or a preventable crash, the company may be liable if the employee was acting within the scope of their employment at the time. Courts will not only look at what the employer knew, but also what the employer should have known.

Let’s say you have a salesperson who is on the road often, and they have a preventable crash, but a driving check was not run on that person. It turns out that employee had multiple driving while under the influence infractions on their driving record. Not only is the employer liable for whatever damage may have been caused, they are also liable for negligent hiring.

Knowing that the salesperson’s job required driving for work, the employer should have run a motor vehicle records check.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends, among other things to:

• Check the driving records of all employees who drive for work purposes.
• Have a strong policy that prohibits the use of portable electronic devices while driving.
• Make safe driving an integral part of your business culture.
• Provide continuous driver safety training and communication.
• Train workers on driving distractions and to not solely rely on navigation and other advanced
• technology systems.
• Encourage workers to focus on the road, avoid electronic distractions, slow down in work zones and not drive if fatigued.
• Build a workplace culture of safety through explicit policies and sound practices.
• Incorporate safe communications practices into work orientation and training.

If any of your employees drive company vehicles, it is also important to maintain those vehicles for safety reasons.

It’s time for spring cleaning. Take a look at your driving policies and procedures and clean them up where necessary.

ASE Connect

ASE can help you run driver's record tests.  For more information contact Susan Chance.

Sources: OSHA, Google