Posted By Ian Stone At a recent H&S committee the question was raised on should we have a policy on limiting the amount of time our staff should drive (eg 2 hrs then take a break) and if so what should these times be? Any help please

Posted By Robert M Edwards The Highway code provides very little in the way of assistance and the Road Traffic Act none at all! Reasonable breaks, not driving when tired, taking food and water at regular intervals all makes sense. A good vechicle users' policy will also include disciplinary and grievance links to not adhering to sound health and safety guidelines. However we do find that it also makes sense to look at route planners which often make meaningless the policies in place. Transport arrangements are often made without looking at the existing policies so employees are asked to drive to meetings continously at high average speeds to make unreasonable meeting times. The holistic approach here really works.

Posted By Nick House Hi Robert Could you let me know where I could get hold on a copy of these regs, as they could come in useful for me too. Cheers Nick.

Posted By Euan Turner A company I previously worked for had a different but perhaps related approach to driving - any one way trip that was 200 miles or more required an alternative mode of transport, or when this really wasn't possible, proper itinerary planning (ie no red-eye starts to rush to an early meeting) and an overnight stay before returning. We also provided advanced driver training for all staff and self insured the first £1000 of any claim involving a company vehicle the cost of which was met by the local cost centre. These things together certainly improved our road safety performance, so I too would recommend a bit of the holistic approach! hope this helps, Euan