Monday, December 1, 2003
Do your drivers use mobile phones?
The issue of driving at work has hit the headlines again last week. Fleet NewsNet has reported that a cyclist - left paralysed from the neck down and on a life support machine - is expected to receive damages of about £9m after being hit by a company car driver while he was using a hands-free mobile phone. Lawyers representing the driver’s company insurers admitted that using the phone had played a part in the accident.
This case serves to underline again the importance of ensuring that driving at work policies and procedures are up-to-date, and that employees are familiar with them, (only 1/3 of managers are aware of these new legislations). As the driving at work issue continues to threaten safety, the HSE and Freight Transport Association (FTA) have opened a new workplace transport safety advice centre designed specifically to give information and advice on all aspects of workplace transport safety.
Do you issue your employees with company mobile phones or cars? Does that make you liable for manslaughter charges if they have accidents?
The new Regulations apply to ‘anyone who causes or permits any other person’ to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving and this may include liability for not forbidding employees from using their phones while driving on company business.
This includes text messaging, using wap services, and any other interactive communication.
What constitutes driving?
Driving includes being stopped at a traffic light or any hold ups that can be expected to move after a short while. Hold ups where you are likely to turn your engine off and wait may constitute non-driving, but this is yet to be debated.
Employers should:
- Not ask staff members to make or receive calls when driving.
- Not require employees to use mobile phones while driving.
- Have a policy on the use of mobile phones while driving that informs staff of the hazards of their use while driving, provides guidance on what type of hands free to use and provides company acceptable alternatives to answering the phone while driving.
The Department for Transport has published the long-awaited rules which will enforce the ban on using a hand-held mobile phone while driving, which came into force on 1 December 2003.
More
above: Will issuing employees with company mobile phones or cars make bosses liable for manslaughter charges if they have accidents?
The Boss From Hell!
Do you or your boss shout and scream orders using abusive language? Do you or they act in an unreasonable manner and make you or others feel incompetent to make themselves feel and look better? If you have just thought ‘yes’ to these questions, then read on…
The Courts take a very dim view of all forms of bullying. A recent case Horkulak v Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor Fitzgerald’s Chief Executive, regularly subjected Horkulak (H) to swearing and arrogant criticism. H was given no opportunity to improve and the company’s disciplinary policy was totally disregarded.
The High Court held that the Chief Executive’s behaviour was a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence in Horkulak’s contract of employment. The breach entitled Horkulak to claim constructive dismissal and almost £1 million in damages for breach of contract.
The message to employers is simple. Bullying of any description is likely to result in a potential liability for breach of mutual trust and confidence and costs, in terms of reputation and financial damage can be very high.
Proactive companies have bullying and harassment policies in place that are linked to their disciplinary and grievance procedures, to communicate to the organisation these matters are taken very seriously and will not be tolerated at any level.
Sainsbury’s Fined for Breaching Under-age Workers Legislation
Sainsbury’s have been fined £6,600 plus £350 costs for 12 counts of infringing child employment laws, reports Personnel Today. The supermarket giant pleaded guilty to 12 counts of breaching employment law by failing to obtain work permits for school-age staff working at the Swan Centre Leatherhead store, and to making others work far longer hours than legally permitted.
With Christmas upon us, casual labour and extra ‘hands on’ help will increase. Make sure you are doing the right thing, with the right paperwork. More
Sexual Orientation and Religious Discrimination regulations just around the corner
With just 2 weeks to go before the new discrimination Regulations come into force, we urge employers to ensure they are fully prepared.
Employers should ensure their recruitment team and managers are fully aware that detrimental differential treatment on the grounds of religion, belief and Sexual Orientation is unlawful; and soon we add age to this extensive list.
Under the Acts liability of the employer is further defined. For example, anything done by a person in the course of his/her employment shall be treated for the purposes of these Regulations, as done by his employer as well as by him/her, whether or not it was done with the employer’s knowledge or approval.
Anything done by a person, as an agent for another person, with the authority of that other person shall be treated as done by that other person as well as by him/her.
If any proceedings are brought, under these Regulations, against any person in respect of an act alleged to have been committed by an employee, the employer will have to prove that reasonable steps were taken to prevent the employee from committing the act. More
Arrests and more fines…
A former partner for Nixon Industrial Valves, has received a 15 month jail sentence for a number of offences including three breaches of Section 6(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, after he failed to ensure that articles supplied for use at work were safe and for forging safety certificates.
An engineering Company, Volker Stevin Ltd. has been fined £200,000 and £4,740 costs, under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. They were found guilty for failing to ensure that a lifting operation was properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner, after a worker was killed when struck by a wooden beam.
A manufacturing Company, Medway Ltd, has been fined £40,000 and £5,778 costs, under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, for failing to ensure the safety of its employees, after a worker suffered serious leg injuries when a large steel coil fell on him when it caught on a decoiling mechanism guide plate.
For more information on all Health and Safety services call 0208 663 4959.
What’s all this blogging?
‘Blogger’ Sacked by Microsoft — a Lesson for Employers
Microsoft fired a worker in the US this week after he posted a picture of Mac computers being delivered to Microsoft offices in his daily web log, or blog (known as blogging the verb, or blogger the noun!). Employers should be aware that more and more employees are setting up their own web logs and may well be updating them at work. More
Employers Pay Penalty for Ignorance of London Tolls
Hundreds of company car drivers are being fined every day for entering London’s congestion charging zone without paying because they do not understand the new system, exclusive new research has revealed. More
Update on HSE consultation on First Aid at Work regulations
Following last months bulletin, it has been brought to our attention that some First Aid training providers are using money-spinning scare tactics to sell unnecessary insurance cover to newly qualified First Aiders. Please be assured that your Employers’ Liability (EL) Insurance does cover the giving of first aid to your employees and it is also a simple matter to extend the cover to non-employees, if necessary.
Disgruntled workers damaging employer’s property
A recent report from a well-known insurance company shows that more than 400,000 UK organisations were victims of malicious damage to property caused by the actions of angry and disgruntled workers against their employers.
Damage is said to be on the increase, with over 800,000 insurance claims made over the past year.
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