Health & Safety Policy

1. Statement of intent

Executive Chauffeurs UK is committed to providing a safe working environment for its staff and chauffeurs and a safe service for its passengers and other road users. So far as is reasonably practicable, we will prevent injury and ill health arising from our work.

We comply with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the road traffic and licensing requirements applying to private hire operations. Overall responsibility sits with the director responsible for health and safety.

Where we employ five or more people, this statement forms part of the written health and safety policy required by law, and the associated risk assessments are recorded in writing.

2. Responsibilities

Directors set the policy, allocate the resources needed to apply it, ensure risk assessments are carried out and reviewed, and take safety into account when scheduling work. Safety is not delegated to whoever happens to be available.

The client service desk is responsible for scheduling that allows adequate rest and realistic journey times, for passing safety-relevant information to the chauffeur before dispatch, and for acting on a chauffeur's report that a vehicle or a journey is not safe.

Chauffeurs are responsible for the roadworthiness checks on their vehicle, for driving within the law and the conditions, for reporting defects and incidents promptly, and for declining to drive when they are not fit to do so. A chauffeur who stands a vehicle down on safety grounds will be supported in that decision.

3. Vehicle safety

Vehicles are serviced to the manufacturer's schedule, hold a current MOT where one is due, and are presented for the compliance inspections the licensing authority prescribes. Service and inspection records are retained and can be produced on request.

A daily walk-round check is completed before the first journey, covering tyres and pressures, lights and indicators, brakes, screenwash and wipers, mirrors, fluid levels and warning lamps, and the condition of seat belts and child restraints. Defects affecting safety take the vehicle out of service until they are rectified.

Each vehicle carries a first aid kit, a warning triangle, a high-visibility vest and, where fitted, a fire extinguisher. Winter equipment is added seasonally where routes make it sensible.

4. Driver fitness and hours

Chauffeurs must hold a current private hire driver licence and the appropriate DVLA entitlement, and must notify us immediately of any medical condition, medication or licence endorsement that could affect their fitness to drive.

Fatigue is the principal risk in this work. Duty periods are scheduled with adequate breaks, a break of at least fifteen minutes is taken after two hours of continuous driving, and overnight and early-morning work is planned with rest before and after rather than around a single long day.

Alcohol and drugs are prohibited before and during duty, and the standard applied is complete abstinence rather than a legal limit. A chauffeur who is unwell, exhausted or affected by medication must tell the desk and stand down; there is no penalty for doing so.

5. Journey and route risk

Journeys are planned with an allowance for traffic, weather and the specific pickup point. Where a fixed deadline exists, the departure time is set against that deadline rather than against a best-case journey time.

In adverse weather we will delay, reroute or, if necessary, decline a journey. A passenger's deadline never justifies driving in conditions the chauffeur judges to be unsafe, and that judgement rests with the chauffeur.

Late-night and lone-working journeys are covered by a check-in arrangement with the desk. Chauffeurs are instructed to leave a situation that feels unsafe rather than to manage it, and to contact the desk or the emergency services immediately.

6. Passenger safety

• —Seat belts are worn by all passengers, and children are carried only in an appropriate restraint.
• —Passenger numbers never exceed the legal seating capacity of the vehicle, without exception.
• —Luggage is secured so that it cannot move in the cabin during braking.
• —Chauffeurs assist with luggage and with entering and leaving the vehicle, but never lift or physically handle a passenger.
• —Boarding and alighting take place at a safe kerbside point, never in a live traffic lane.
• —Vehicles are non-smoking and non-vaping, and hot drinks are not carried in the cabin.

7. Incidents, first aid and emergencies

Any collision, injury, near miss or vehicle fire must be reported to the desk as soon as it is safe to do so, and recorded in the incident log the same day. Near misses are reported as seriously as actual incidents, because they are the cheapest warning available.

At the scene, the priority is safety: make the vehicle safe, call the emergency services where anyone is injured or the road is obstructed, exchange details as the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires, and do not accept or apportion liability.

Reportable incidents are notified under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 where the criteria are met, and reported to our insurer and to the licensing authority where our licence conditions require it.

8. Training, monitoring and review

Health and safety briefing forms part of induction and is refreshed at least annually. It covers vehicle checks, fatigue, safe boarding, incident procedure and personal safety.

Directors review the incident and near-miss log, defect reports and complaint data at least twice a year, and act on any pattern that emerges rather than treating each event in isolation.

This policy and the underlying risk assessments are reviewed annually, after any significant incident, and whenever the fleet, the routes or the pattern of work changes materially.