Control of third party drivers on company premises

Failure to control the actions of third party drivers, whether they are delivery drivers, contractors or visitors to your premises, may lead to accidents resulting in personal injury as well as vehicle or property damage.

Managing the risks

To help you to identify the hazards associated with the control of third party drivers and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - Control of Third Party Drivers on Company Premises. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level. You should ensure that your document only addresses “significant” hazards, i.e. any that could, and more importantly are likely to, cause an accident or injury.

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow are decided upon the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable”.

Note. The list of potential hazards is not exhaustive. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards in your workplace when third party drivers are on your premises.

Note. This risk assessment deals with the generic risks associated with the movement of vehicles belonging to third party drivers and their relationship with people on your site (staff, others). You should also ensure that your staff are aware of the movement of vehicles around your premises and the hazards that this presents.