Driving For Work Courses

Driving for work includes any person who drives on the road as part of their work either in:

• A vehicle provided by their employer.
• Their own vehicle and receives an allowance or payment from their employer for distances driven.

Commuting to work is not generally classified as driving for work, except when the person’s journey starts from their home and they are travelling to a work location that is not their usual place of work.

The Road Safety Authority, Health and Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána are the regulatory and monitoring bodies in Ireland for Driving for Work and have specified the following laws and regulations for employers:

• Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and associated regulations
  relating to work activities, workplaces, work equipment and worker
  protection.
• Road Traffic acts and associated regulations relating to vehicles, driver
  licensing, driving offences, insurance, rules of the road and speed limits.
• Road Transport acts and associated regulations relating to road haulage,
  road passenger transport operations and  transport manager’s
  professional driver hours.
• European Communities (Road Transport) (Organisation of Working Time
  of Persons Performing Mobile Road Transport Activities) Regulations
  2012 relating to the working time of mobile road transport workers.

You must implement a Driving for Work programme to understand, evaluate, identify and manage the risk arising from driving. ISM’s Driving for Work is a compliance solution enabling your business to protect, reduce and minimise risk in your driver’s health and safety performance.

ISM’s Driving for Work on-road training will assist your business in complying with the laws and reduce your risk.

With training, you can cover your duty of care in the critical areas of safe driver, safe vehicle and safe journey and additionally make positive actions in environmental sustainability, including but not limited to; reductions in accidents, fuel consumption, emissions, noise pollution and insurance costs.

In the case of journeys taken in a vehicle provided by an employer, such as a car, people carrier or a fleet van, an employer has a duty of care to ensure the safety of employees using the vehicle.

Employers should have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure safety when employees drive a work-provided vehicle or drive their own vehicle for work.

Driving for work involves a risk not only for drivers but also for fellow workers and members of the public, such as pedestrians and other road users. As an employer or self-employed person, you must, by law, manage the risks that may arise when you or your employees drive for work.

Employers should have systems in place to ensure that Driving For Work activities are road safety compliant. Employers cannot directly control roadway conditions, but they can promote and influence safe driving behaviour and actions by their employees.

ISM is the leading driver training organisation in Ireland since 1961 and have provided ISM’s Driving for Work on-road programme to hundreds of businesses with small, to medium to large grey fleets, including companies where employees use their own car for work purposes or drive company provided vehicles. Our customers comply with the laws and associated regulations and gain the added benefits of active employee involvement in road safety, reduced vehicle wear, tear & downtime, reduced insurance and legal costs, reduced fuel consumption as well as increased driver confidence.

Our Driving for Work on-road is for car, van or HGV drivers who require assessment and training to ensure they follow their organisation’s safe driving policies. All participants must hold a relevant full category licence. Drivers will receive a two-hour assessment with one of our RSA Approved Driving Instructors. Upon completion, employers will receive a detailed report for each driver with a low, medium or high-risk evaluation. Further training may be recommended as a result of the driver assessment.

When purchasing training, be assured that your training providers are all fully qualified Approved Driving Instructors, registered with the Road Safety Authority. In addition to qualifications, the trainer should have extensive training experience in driver behaviour training.