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An app to manage your Duty of Care towards ‘phone users

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6 June 2013

Using a mobile phone
This is illegal, but your business probably requires your company car drivers to be in touch. And employers have  Duty of Care to ensure that they do so safely

THE smartphone is the umbilical cord of any SME firm’s key salesmen on the road.

But it’s also the item that can potentially land you, as an employer, in deep trouble.

On the one hand, the ‘phone is a vital business tool – the business may even provide it – but on the other hand, using a ‘phone while driving is illegal. 

Employers and company car managers have a Duty of Care to ensure that their company car drivers are driving safely. Moreover, you have to be able to demonstrate that you have taken proper steps to exercise your Duty of Care – particularly if something goes wrong, and a company car driver is involved in an accident.

Not managing the risk of your company car drivers could even put businesses at risk of corporate manslaughter prosecution if the firm is shown not to have managed the driver risk properly.

So can you ensure that employees are using their ‘phones safely?

That’s exactly what the Driver Distraction Prevention app proposes to do.

The app prevents calls and locks the keypad to prevent the company car driver from either texting or emailing while driving within a minute of moving off.

Drivers are alerted to messages and can retrieve them once the car is stopped.

The Driver Distraction Prevention app has been developed by Romex World, a workforce management technology company.

Romex World says the app demonstrates a company is managing its road risk and driver Duty of Care without the need to install any hardware in company cars.

Mobile ‘phone use continues to be a major cause of accidents. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) says that drivers using a mobile ‘phone are nine times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident.

Find out more about your Duty of Car in our article Corporate Manslaughter Bill and duty of care, and on Compliance with the law.

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Matt Morton

Matt Morton

Matt Morton is an automotive content writer for Business Car Manager

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