eSafety Compendium

European Health and Safety Directives apply to any employer, manager, or supervisorwith staff who drive or ride a motorcycle at work, and particularly those responsible forfleet management. They include people whose main job is driving and those who driveor ride occasionally or for short distances. (However, if drivers wilfully ignoreinstructions given to them or misuse equipment in a way that could not be foreseen bytheir employer, then the driver becomes fully responsible for the consequences of theirmisuse.)So, the Fleet Manager/Employer has a responsibility under existing Health and Safetylegislation for safety at work to ensure the safe operation of their fleet in terms of risk todrivers and other road users. Key issues are the extent to which Fleet Owners andEmployers are responsible for HMI aspects of systems used by their employees andwhether they are aware of these responsibilities. In outline, these are expected to cover:1. Specification of any hardware or software purchased and their testing andacceptance – Note that ESoP already applies to their systems.2. Installation and maintenance in accordance with the manufacturer’sinstructions - This may involve periodic updating of hardware and softwareand system re-testing.3. Provision of both general and specific safety information in relation tothe use of the in-vehicle ITS equipment provided – This could includeinstructions to drivers that additional in-vehicle systems should only beinstalled and used by agreement with the Employer.4. Ensuring that safety is not compromised by drivers’ use of any invehiclesystems as part of their work – This implies that training andassessment of the training are involved.6.3.2 RecommendationsR-ESoP-2 Expand the scope of the principles to include “post-manufacture” issuesincluding service providers and Fleet Managers and Employers asdescribed above – see Annex D for an initial draft. [Action by: EC]R-EC-1R-EC-2The EC should clarify the extent to which existing Health and SafetyDirectives include all drivers who drive as part of their work activities andinclude in-vehicle ergonomic safety considerations. [Action by: EC Legalexperts].Undertake Europe-wide information dissemination to Fleet Managers andEmployees. As a first step, this can be undertaken through European andNational Member representative bodies. [Action by: EC and MemberStates, eSafety WG-Outreach and Industry]Page 302 of 490