COMPANY DRIVERS PUT BUSINESS OWNERS AT RISK OF PROSECUTION
Driving Licence Verification provider, LicenceCheck an eBusiness award winner 2007 is encouraging companies to check their employees’ eligibility to drive on business ahead of new Corporate Manslaughter Laws which take effect in April this year.
New laws, as part of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, will come into effect on 6th April 2008. This means that, in the event of a fatal incident involving an employee driving on company business, an employer may be required to provide evidence of policies and procedures which confirm an employee’s eligibility to drive and have precautionary measures in place to ensure their safety on work related journeys. Failure to manage risk, audit and update policies may lead to prosecution under the new offence of Corporate Manslaughter.
This might all sound like scare tactics but companies can easily protect themselves against possible prosecution and demonstrate a ‘Duty of Care’ without drowning under paperwork or draining financial resources.
Richard Brown, Managing Director of LicenceCheck explains, “Almost every business has employees who drive on their behalf. This could be drivers of company cars, vans, heavy goods vehicles or even staff posting mail on their way home. All are making journeys for their employer, but are they legally licensed to do so? All could expose the company to unnecessary risk and possible prosecution under the Health & Safety at Work Act. The simple solution is to regularly verify that employees are licensed and entitled to drive. Problems occur when companies are burdened with the task of administering the process of collecting, storing and monitoring licence entitlement. This is why we established LicenceCheck, a cost effective online licence verification service.”
Working with LicenceCheck for driving licence verification, employers reduce the risk of potential prosecution. LicenceCheck utilises live Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data to electronically check licences at regular intervals throughout each year based on a company’s requirements and the risk factors of each driver.
LicenceCheck manages driver mandates, verification requests and provides reporting along with consultation on managing at risk drivers. For more information please visit www.licencecheck.co.uk call 0845 226 9686 or email: sales@licencecheck.co.uk. |