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.

Choose the most suitable training solution, either online, on-road, combined or workshop training, to 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.

The training programme you choose should address the four key areas in Driving For Work:

• Understand
• Identify
• Evaluate
• Manage the health and safety of Driving For Work

Your training organisation should provide you with a sample Driving For Work policy that will enable you to tailor it for your business. Alternatively, the training organisation should review your existing policy before purchasing or receiving any training. The training organisation should also guide you to conduct a risk assessment in Driving for Work and assess your training needs.

When purchasing training, be assured that your training providers are all fully qualified Approved Driving Instructors, registered with the Road Safety Authority, and possess the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents training qualification. In addition to qualifications, the trainer should have extensive training experience in driver behaviour training.