Helping to ensure all eyes are focused on the road ahead

WHILE the situation is improving, an alarming number of UK companies still make no effort to ensure the drivers they employ can see clearly enough to drive safely.

Although seemingly a breach of basic health and safety principles, research carried out by Specsavers suggests that 13% of firms have no policy in place to check the eyesight of professional drivers. This alarming situation is set to change. By next year it will be the law within the EU for drivers to undergo regular eye examinations to retain their driving licenses. The UK will surely follow suit.

Britain’s business community does not always embrace EU directives with enthusiasm. But Specsavers’ own research reveals that there is an appetite by employers to back legislation that will make drivers’ working lives safer.

Legal and financial gains

There are broader legal and financial incentives to ensure good vision in drivers too. Between a quarter and a third of road traffic accidents are believed to involve people driving during the course of their work. Failure to have met employees’ eyecare needs in the advent of fatal accidents can be in breach of the Corporate Manslaughter Act.

The Act states that: ‘An organisation will be guilty of the new offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the deceased.’ The Ministry of Justice states that: ‘Courts will look at management systems and practices across the organisation, providing a more effective means for prosecuting the worst corporate failures to manage health and safety properly.’ Juries will have the chance to decide if a death is the result of failed safety systems in an organisation. Senior managers are not personally liable to prosecution – although they can still be charged with gross negligence under existing laws. However the penalty for an organisation found guilty of corporate manslaughter is an unlimited fine.

Firms can improve their employees’ chances of staying safe on the road by insisting that business drivers have regular checkups – every two years at least - at an opticians. Loss of vision can creep up on people – those that have had good eyesight in the past may not notice a gradual deterioration. Similarly if a person’s eyesight has been borderline in the past, deterioration can mean their eyesight is no longer good enough to drive.

If a person’s eyesight is found not to be good enough for driving, their insurance may be invalidated, they may be liable for three points on their licence, and of course they are a danger to others.

On a more positive note, numerous companies that have adopted corporate eyecare schemes have seen their motor insurance policies go down. This is covered in more detail later on in this guide.

While it all makes perfect sense, there is currently no legal requirement for industry to make sure drivers comply with minimum sight requirements. As long as they were able to pass the mandatory sight test during their driving test - the ability to read a number plate from 20.5m - they are never required to prove the fitness of their eyesight ever again. But as most people’s eyesight changes considerably as they age - especially after passing 40 - it is inevitable that a large proportion of the UK’s driving population cannot see as well as they should.

Raising awareness

This worrying situation is about to change. Legislation, passed in the EU Parliament in 2006, is set to be introduced to member states in 2011. The current proposal is that holders of commercial licences will have to have their eyes tested every five years, and holders of private licences every 10–15 years. Each member state has until 2013 to translate the directive into national law.

Results from the latest Specsavers research suggested that more than three-quarters (78%) of UK drivers are unaware of this pending legislation.

Jim Lythgow, director of strategic alliances for Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, says: ‘The number plate test was devised in the 1930s and it is crazy that it is still the only eyesight requirement for motorists. Driving today requires so much more, including good peripheral vision and the ability to refocus between different distances such as from driving instruments in the car to objects on the outside road. Any directives that ensure a driver’s eyesight is good enough for driving is excellent news.’

Employers in favour

Specsavers Corporate Eyecare carried out its comprehensive study into professional driving, during October 2009. It surveyed 187 companies representing between 295,556 and 448,629 employees. Of these firms, 43 were from the public sector, employing up to 172,513.The research aimed to discover just how seriously employers and health and safety professionals take the issue of the eyesight of staff that drive as part of their job.

The majority understood the advantages of offering employees a full eye examination. Beyond checking your vision, a routine eye test at the opticians also provides a comprehensive health assessment. It can detect signs of a number of underlying conditions such as diabetes, glaucoma, cataracts, high blood pressure and even life-threatening tumours. Almost two-thirds of respondents were aware of this.

Further still, more than three-quarters (78%) of firms thought that providing full eye examinations gave a positive reinforcement of their caring responsibility towards staff. Despite this it seems amazing that 13% of companies do not havean eyecare policy at all, and 39% of their employees see it as less important than the other health benefits they receive.

Further economic savings

The ethical standpoint clearly speaks for itself. Less obvious is that offering free eye care to professional drivers can actually save companies money. Specsavers Corporate Eye Care can provide an eye examination and complete glasses for as little as £17 per person.

With other opticians offering similar corporate schemes there is no need to pay over the odds. There is also the possibility that firms will save more than that on their motor insurance premiums, as forward-thinking insurers are already rewarding those that implement more stringent tests.

A case in point is Specsavers Corporate Eyecare client Kingstown Furniture. The hull-based retailer has introduced eye examinations for all its fleet drivers as part of its extended duty-of-care programme. All of the measures combined have resulted in the insurance company reducing the proposed premium increase by 9%. This could translate into considerable savings for large fleets.

Mr Lythgow adds: ‘Most companies will realise that examining the eyesight of their drivers is the responsible thing to do. Maybe once they see that there are also definite cost advantages they may be more tempted to implement a policy.’

Mike Morland, the health, safety and environment manager for Kingstown Furniture Ltd says: ‘Our duty is to ensure that all of our employees are safe and this includes our drivers who drive thousands of miles each year. It is an added bonus that our extended duty-of-care programme has also saved a significant amount on our insurance premiums, so it has benefited areas right across the business.’

Commonsense

Road safety for everyone would be vastly improved if fleet managers established eyesight criteria when they take on new staff. Ideally, a sight test would be part of the interview and recruitment process, especially in light of the requirements imposed on firms by the Corporate Manslaughter Act - it would certainly indicate a company’s intention to take road safety seriously right across the organisation. All the time that needs to be invested in recruitment and training is wasted if a driver’s eyesight is not good enough for driving.

Some problems with eyesight cannot be corrected to the required level, and that should be identified before an individual is taken on. All existing staff that drive should also be regularly checked to test their eyesight for driving.

Fleet managers must take responsibility

It should be down to fleet managers to take responsibility for their drivers. Just as they have to ensure the safety of their vehicles are fit for the road - with MOTs and regular fluid checks on oil and water - they should similarly take responsibility to ensure their drivers are fit to be behind the wheel. It is sensible for this to be part of HR policy and details included in personnel records - such as when a driver last had their eyes tested, the results, any action required - and the driver should sign a declaration of the details. All staff should have regular eyesight tests regardless of whether they drive for a living, but it is even more important for drivers – regardless of how far they drive.

As well as facing tighter legislation regarding the eyesight of drivers in their employ, firms must also comply with a raft of existing law relating to safety eyewear in the workplace.

The 1992 Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations introduced in 1992 addressed the ‘duty of care’ for the well-being of employees.

The Act extended the responsibility of employers to do what could be considered as reasonably practical to manage risks in the workplace. The regulations effectively broadened the scope for consideration of risks beyond those workers specifically mentioned in existing legislation. It could also apply to anyone working in detailed or repetitive tasks requiring intense concentration, and almost certainly applies to those required to drive any sort of vehicle in the course of their employment.

Employers are obliged to assess the nature and scale of all risks to health in their workplace and base their precautions on them.

Although legislation is often the most effective call to action there is evidence that employers are increasingly realising the relevance of good eyesight to virtually any activity in the 21st century workplace, as humans are still relied upon to perform detailed, repetitive or precision work at high speeds in an age of automation. As a consequence optical benefits (39%) finally overtook provision of dental insurance (36%) in a recent employers’ survey.

Mr Lythgow concludes: ‘Whatever the nature of regulations we face in the future, the important message is that there are often very simple solutions to the most complex requirements if we only have the vision to see them. For anyone who employs drivers, that begins with the determination to make sure that anyone who climbs behind a wheel on behalf of their company can see clearly enough to be safe on the road.’

Conclusive responsibility

Every road user has a part to play in ensuring they are kept as safe as possible, by taking whatever measures are necessary. Companies are no exception. Ensuring all eyes on the road are in focus is in everyone’s best interest. With so many professional drivers on the road, they must lead by example.