Planning for safe work-related driving

Consult on work-related driving

In many workplaces, driving may be secondary to the main role, such as for mobile disability support workers who drive to clients' homes. This can lead to the risks associated with work-related driving being overlooked. Employers must identify driving-related hazards and eliminate them, or reduce the risks as far as is reasonably practicable if they cannot be eliminated.

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act), section 35, an employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult with health and safety representatives, if any, and employees affected or who are likely to be affected by an employer planning for work-related driving.

Selecting safe vehicles

Employers must provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health, which extends to work-related driving.

Selecting the most appropriate vehicle, which can include cars, utes or vans, starts with understanding the various tasks the vehicle needs to perform and the environment and conditions in which the vehicle will be operating.

Employers must then identify all hazards associated with the use of the vehicle and eliminate the risks or where not possible, control the risks identified so far as is reasonably practicable using the hierarchy of control, a system for controlling risks in the workplace.

Transportation of goods

The National Transport Commission (NTC) Load Restraint Guide for Light Vehicles is designed to help you safely restrain loads on your light vehicle and is available on their website. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) load restraint guide provides best practice load restraint systems to meet loading requirements and loading performance standards and is available on their website.

Transportation of dangerous goods

Where vehicles are used to transport dangerous goods, comply with the dangerous goods transportation requirements. There are specific driver and vehicle licensing requirements for the transportation of dangerous goods. Refer to Safely transporting dangerous goods: Glovebox guide for drivers on the WorkSafe website.

Dangerous Goods (Transport by Road or Rail) Regulations 2018 sets out the obligations of people involved in transporting dangerous goods by land and gives effect to the standards, requirements and procedures of the Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road & Rail .

Where vehicles are used to transport dangerous goods, given the increased potential consequences of any incident, ensure that vehicles are fitted with safety systems such as roll stability control (RSC).

When selecting vehicles for the transportation of dangerous goods, the specific risk controls for transporting dangerous goods should be considered, such as providing vented enclosure so that dangerous goods are not transported in enclosed cabins or passenger compartments.

Safety measures for all vehicles

For all vehicles:

• ensure the safety of modifications needed to fit out the vehicle include obtaining verification by a competent person where applicable
• ensure that weight restrictions of vehicles are compliant with gross vehicle mass (GVM), gross combined mass GCM and axle weights
• ensure that all trailers, including heavy vehicle trailers, are fitted with rated safety chains long enough to be connected in a cross pattern — avoid the use of chain hooks attached to tow vehicles
• select a highly visible car colour to improve the vehicles visibility for others
• use all-wheel drive (AWD) for vehicles that could be, or are to be used in adverse conditions or on unsealed roads
• fit 3 peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) approved tyres which have been tested to provide a higher level of performance in winter conditions such as snow and ice — if the vehicle is to be used in those conditions
• use 4WD for off road applications where low range is required
• provide first aid kits and consider providing a fire blanket and an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), if using the vehicle in remote areas
• fit cargo barriers to separate cargo from the occupants — ensure they meet AS/NZS 4034 – Motor vehicles – Cargo barriers for occupant protection requirements
• do not fit a bull bar to vehicles. Testing has shown a bull bar to endanger pedestrians and compromise a vehicle’s cabin in a collision. (See Transport Victoria website in Further information).

Inspect and maintain a safe vehicle

Selecting the safest vehicle needs to be supported by a robust safe system of work. This should include a preventative inspection and maintenance program to ensure that the safety of the vehicle is maximised as far as is reasonably practicable.

An inspection and maintenance system can help ensure that the manufacturer's service recommendations are met and that the vehicle complies with roadworthiness requirements.

Employers that use higher risk vehicles such as heavy vehicles for the purpose of  transporting dangerous goods should install or arrange for the regular provision of automated systems to verify the safety of their vehicles, for example on site automated weigh bridges and brake testing systems.

Prepare procedures to outline the frequency of vehicle safety checks to enable reporting of problems and to keep records of maintenance documents.

Ensure drivers are licensed and competent to operate the vehicle

Where driving is involved in an employee's work, the employer must ensure that drivers are appropriately licensed, where required, and should determine the competency of the employee to drive safely.

This can start in the recruitment and selection process by doing referee checks, doing medical examinations and stating specific formal licence requirements in job position descriptions.

Assessing Fitness to Drive (AFTD) is a joint NTC and Austroads publication that contains nationally-agreed medical standards for granting a driver's license. This information is available on the Austroads website which sets out the considerations and medical criteria for safe driving.

More information on licensing requirements is available on the Transport Victoria website in the VicRoads, Victorian Bus & Truck Drivers’ Handbook (See Transport Victoria website in Further information).

An employer must provide information, instruction, training or supervision to their employees on safe driving. This could be achieved by providing regular defensive driver training, and more specialised training depending on the type of work and the amount of driving involved and could include driving in rough terrain or advanced driver training where driving in adverse conditions.

The induction training for all new employees and the training for an employee that performs work-related driving should include:

• legal requirements, such as road rules
• the organisations driver and vehicle safety policies and procedures
• the organisations requirements such as pre-start checklists and incident reports
• policies to be applied where drivers breach safety rules
• understanding the causes and effects of fatigue
• understanding road conditions and driving precautions
• what to do in the case of an incident or emergency
• record keeping
• provision of a supervised driving period to verify competency.

This sort of training should also be undertaken periodically as a 'refresher' to all employees who undertake work-related driving. Where an employee is involved in an incident, an investigation into the incident should be conducted. Corrective actions may include refresher training to ensure the competency of the employee to return to work-related driving.

Employers need to have and maintain a system of work to prevent unauthorised use of vehicles such as restricting unlicensed drivers from having access to keys to vehicles that they are not licensed or competent to operate.

Employers, in consultation with employees, should consider installing mobile phone applications or hardware that provide alerts about critical events as they occur.

Plan trips to minimise risk

For all journeys whether regular or out of the ordinary driving, planning should be done to minimise risk.

Employers and employees should:

• allocate sufficient time to account for common delays, such as traffic and weather conditions, and road rules — employees should take the safest route available to reach their destination
• plan trips to avoid driving at night where risk of fatigue, reduced visibility and possibility of wildlife on roads is increased
• consider ride sharing or using other methods of transport, such as public transport
• select the appropriate vehicle for the journey
• consider safe handling and storage of luggage and equipment
• have plans in place on how to respond to an emergency
• plan trips to manage fatigue to ensure the driving and break periods can be complied with, particularly when driving heavy vehicles
• have systems in place to alert the driver of any issued warnings such as bushfires and other emergencies before the journey.
• plan heavy vehicle trips using route planner tools to ensure approved routes are used. For example NHVR Route Planner.
• ensure that routes are planned to avoid no-go zones when transporting dangerous goods, for example, no placard loads in tunnels
• develop work-related driving safety policies.

Employers should have occupational health and safety policies that covers vehicle selection and driving safely where employees undertake driving for work. Developed in consultation with employees, and health and safety representatives, if any, the policies should:

• cover senior managements responsibility for safety
• define responsibilities for all stakeholders in the fleet management process
• demonstrate a commitment to safety when selecting vehicles
• include incident reporting and emergency management
• be regularly reviewed and revised
• be readily available to keep employees trained and informed.

The policies should be communicated to all employees and others impacted by the policy.

Vehicles used to transport dangerous goods must comply with dangerous goods transportation requirements (see Dangerous goods: Safety basics in Further information).

Remind employees of their obligations to not disable vehicle safety systems: While at work, an employee must not intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided at the workplace in the interests of health, safety or welfare - OHS Act Section 25(2).