The employee has a valid licence, the van has an MOT and the journey appears in their diary. That is not a complete system for managing driving at work. HSE says health and safety law applies to work activities on the road in the same way as it does on a fixed site. A useful driving-for-work risk assessment therefore considers three connected areas: the journey, the driver or rider and the vehicle.
Define which journeys and vehicles are in scope
Driving for work includes employees and others engaged to work who drive or ride on the road as part of a work activity. It can include deliveries, sales visits, travel between sites, attending a client premises and driving from home to a location that is not the person's normal workplace. Ordinary commuting is not generally treated as driving for work under health and safety law.
The duty is not limited to company vans. HSE expressly includes grey-fleet vehicles—cars or other vehicles owned and driven by workers for business purposes, including vehicles used under cash-allowance schemes. Employers need a proportionate way to know who drives, what they drive, how often, where they travel and whether the journey creates additional risks.
Keep on-road risk separate from workplace transport. The first concerns travel on the public road; the second concerns vehicle movements within yards, depots, car parks and other work premises. A business with both risks should assess and connect them, particularly where drivers arrive, load, reverse or interact with pedestrians.
HSE: driving and riding safely for work ↗ · Related guide: workplace transport risk assessment →
Assess the journey—not just the person behind the wheel
Start by asking whether the journey is necessary. Video meetings, combining visits or using another transport mode may remove or reduce exposure. Where driving is required, choose a route suitable for the vehicle and load, accounting for low bridges, narrow roads, difficult sites, parking, seasonal conditions and reliable access to welfare facilities.
Schedules must allow lawful speeds, traffic, administration, loading and rest. A customer appointment or delivery slot should not depend on speeding, skipping breaks or driving through severe weather. HSE points to the Highway Code recommendation of at least a 15-minute break every two hours. This is a useful planning benchmark, not a substitute for any stricter drivers' hours rules that apply to the vehicle or operation.
For businesses covering Teesside, County Durham and more rural North East routes, the same job may involve congestion, exposed roads, poor weather and limited safe stopping places. Give drivers authority to delay, reroute or stop when conditions become unsafe, without creating pressure to protect a target at the expense of safety.
Check competence, health and foreseeable distraction
Licence checks matter, but competence is wider. Consider experience, driving record, familiarity with the vehicle, load security, reversing, use of vehicle technology and the demands of the route. Young, inexperienced or newly appointed drivers may need additional instruction, supervision or restrictions. Training should follow the risk rather than become an identical annual presentation for everyone.
Workers must be fit to drive and should be encouraged to report eyesight, health, medication or fatigue concerns. Plan around long shifts and irregular hours, not only the driving time recorded in isolation. HSE identifies particular fatigue risk on long monotonous journeys, after long working hours and during the early-morning and mid-afternoon periods.
The law prohibits holding and using a phone or other data-capable device while driving, including when stopped at traffic lights or queuing. Hands-free equipment does not remove distraction: HSE advises that it should be used sparingly and only when necessary. A clear company rule should prevent managers, customers and dispatch systems from expecting calls, messages, photographs or app updates while the vehicle is moving.
HSE: make sure drivers and riders are safe ↗ · GOV.UK: using a phone or device when driving ↗
Make every work vehicle safe—including grey fleet
Select vehicles that suit the task, passengers, load, route and weather. A small car may not safely carry tools; a heavily loaded van behaves differently from an empty one; two-wheelers need a particularly robust approach. Loads should be within limits, stable and properly secured, with suitable bulkheads or other protection where needed.
Set a recorded pre-use check appropriate to the vehicle. It may cover tyres, lights, mirrors, glass, wipers, fluids, warning indicators, load security and visible damage. Defects need a clear reporting route, prompt action and an unambiguous rule that an unsafe vehicle is not driven. An MOT confirms minimum requirements at a point in time; HSE states that it does not guarantee ongoing safety.
For grey fleet, verify that the vehicle is suitable and maintained, with a valid MOT where required and insurance covering business use. Decide how evidence will be checked and renewed. Mileage approval should not become the first time the business discovers that a worker's private vehicle has been used routinely for work.
Connect routes, schedules, drivers and vehicles in one workable system.
HR + SAFETY can help review driving-for-work arrangements, grey-fleet checks and the instructions managers and drivers use day to day.
Discuss driving-for-work riskTurn the assessment into operating rules and learning
The written assessment should lead to a driving-at-work policy that people can follow. Define approval to drive, licence and insurance checks, vehicle allocation, pre-use checks, defect escalation, mobile-phone expectations, fatigue reporting, breakdown response, lone-worker contact and what happens when weather or scheduling makes a journey unsafe.
Provide a simple route for reporting collisions, damage and near misses, then investigate underlying causes. Look beyond the nearest driver error: unrealistic schedules, unsuitable vehicles, repeated defects, route design, communications and manager behaviour may all contribute. Review the assessment when vehicles, routes, work patterns or incident experience change.
Telematics can support proportionate monitoring of indicators such as speed, harsh braking or acceleration, but data is not a control by itself. HSE stresses the importance of management and coaching feedback. Be transparent about what is collected, why it is needed, who can access it and how it will be used.
Related guide: lone-worker risk assessment → · HSE: the law and driving for work ↗
Driving-for-work assessment checklist
Legal duties and official guidance were checked on 24 September 2026. Road traffic law and operator requirements continue to apply alongside general health and safety duties; HGV, public-service and specialist operations may need additional controls beyond this SME checklist.
- List the people who drive or ride for work, including occasional and grey-fleet drivers.
- Identify normal and non-routine journeys, destinations, schedules and higher-risk conditions.
- Decide whether journeys can be removed, combined or completed by a safer method.
- Check licence entitlement, relevant experience, competence and training needs.
- Provide a confidential route for reporting health, medication and fatigue concerns.
- Set a practical mobile-phone and in-vehicle technology rule.
- Confirm every vehicle is suitable for the task, load, route and driver.
- Record pre-use checks, defects, maintenance and decisions to take vehicles out of use.
- For grey fleet, check business-use insurance, MOT status and vehicle suitability.
- Allow safe journey times, breaks, welfare access and weather-related changes.
- Investigate incidents and near misses for management and system causes.
- Review controls after change, concern, collision or evidence that the system is not working.
Driving for work should be managed as work—not left entirely to the person holding the keys. Assess the journey, driver and vehicle together, include grey fleet, remove time pressure and learn from defects, near misses and incidents.
This guide provides general information for UK employers. It is not legal advice and should not replace advice based on the facts of a specific matter.