Driving for work refers to any travel carried out for business purposes, excluding the daily commute. This includes journeys such as visiting clients, travelling between sites, or making deliveries. Although for many businesses these journeys are routine, these journeys present significant health and safety risks and bring specific legal responsibilities for both employers and employees.
What does driving for work mean?
Driving for work refers to any journey undertaken in the course of business activities, other than the normal commuting to and from home. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the law covering health and safety applies to employees who drive (or ride) as part of their work.
This includes:
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- Travelling between sites or to a customer’s premises,
- Visiting clients, suppliers or subcontractors,
- Driving to meetings away from the normal work base,
- Deliveries or collections made as part of the job,
- Using your own vehicle (grey fleet) for business journeys.
Driving for work specifically does not include ordinary commuting from your home to your usual place of work (in most cases). The guidance says that commuting is generally outside the scope of “driving for work”.
What are the hazards of driving for work?
Driving for work creates significant risk. According to the UK Government’s statistics: in 2024 there were an estimated 23,770 reported collisions involving at least one driver driving for work, which was around 24% of all police-reported collisions.
In that same year 459 people were killed in collisions involving a working driver: approximately 29% of all road fatalities.
Key hazards include:
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- Vehicle condition: poorly maintained vehicles increase crash risk.
- Fatigue or distraction: long driving hours, heavy traffic or mobile phone use reduce a driver’s alertness.
- Time pressure: rushing or tight schedules may increase risky behaviours (speeding, reduced rest).
- Other road users and environment: weather, roadworks, other drivers’ behaviour are beyond your direct control.
- Using private vehicles for business (grey fleet): the employer still has duties if staff use their own vehicle for work.
Given the scale of the risk, it is essential for employers and drivers to treat business travel with the same rigour as other workplace hazards.
What is a driving for work policy?
A robust driving for work policy (or business-travel driving policy) is a documented framework setting out roles, responsibilities and controls for any journeys undertaken as part of business. Key components include:
- Definition of what counts as business travel (eg excluding normal commuting)
- Driver suitability criteria (licence check, convictions, health, distractions)
- Vehicle requirements (maintenance schedule, vehicle age, safety features)
- Journey planning (schedule management, rest breaks, route risk)
- Speed and mobile device policies
- Insurance and vehicle usage guidelines (company fleet + grey fleet)
- Incident reporting mechanisms (accidents, near misses, defects)
- Training and awareness (drivers trained in safe driving, fatigue, distraction)
- Monitoring and review (telematics, mileage, policy breaches, continuous improvement)
- Clear roles: who in the organisation is accountable, who monitors, who responds.
The policy ensures that business travel is treated as a health and safety risk, not just a logistic or cost minimisation issue.
What does the law say about driving for work?
When employees drive as part of their work, several legal frameworks apply:
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- Health & Safety Law: Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) and supporting regulations (eg. the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999) the employer has a duty to ensure so far as reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare of workers. The HSE emphasises that driving for work is “one of the most dangerous things workers will do”.
- Risk assessments & policies: Employers must carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments of driving for work journeys and have systems in place to manage the risks (journey planning, driver suitability, vehicle checks).
- Incident reporting and first aid: Accidents, near misses and defects must be reported; for on-site events RIDDOR may apply (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013).
- Drugs and alcohol: Employers must have clear policies stating that driving for work under the influence of alcohol or drugs is prohibited. The RTA provides criminal offences for driving under influence.
- Driving for work policy: The employer should set out expectations for any business-travel driver, ensure training, monitoring and enforcement of safe behaviours.
- Vehicle, driver and licensing law: Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA) and other legislation, drivers must be suitably licensed, insured and the vehicle must meet legal requirements (MOT, tax, etc) if used on the road.
- Insurance: Business use must be declared on insurance; the employer must ensure that vehicles (including grey fleet) are covered for business travel.
- Working times / breaks (under employment law): While specific drivers-hours regimes apply to heavy goods vehicles etc, all drivers must avoid fatigue and should not drive excessively without breaks as part of risk management.
In short, the law places responsibilities on both employer and driver when business journeys are involved.
How can iCOR help you manage risks associated with driving at work?
iCOR helps organisations manage the legal and compliance aspects of driving for work through its specialist legal compliance software.
Through iCOR, organisations can access bespoke, up-to-date legal registers tailored to their operations, ensuring that all relevant duties relating to business travel are clearly understood. The built-in self-auditing tool allows users to assess their compliance performance and identify any gaps in how driving for work is managed. Evidence of compliance can be recorded and maintained directly within the system, supporting a consistent and traceable approach to risk management.
Book a demo here to see how iCOR can help you manage legal obligations linked to driving for work, maintain oversight of your responsibilities, and demonstrate a proactive commitment to safety and compliance.