As tablets and smartphones become a part of every day life, multi-tasking behind the wheel is becoming a workplace danger, and gaining more notice as accidents are on the rise. Along with the physical harm and danger, this trend to be “connected” at all times can carry significant financial perils for employers.

A worker who causes an accident while reading e-mails or texting on the job can expose an employer to millions of dollars in liability for loss of life, in addition to the costs of property damage and lost productivity. Alarmed at the rise in accidents, safety advocates and the government are pushing companies to adopt distracted-driving policies that ban the use of electronic devices while operating a vehicle.

Employers have been urged by the National Safety Council to develop and implement policies that ban employees from using any hand-held devices while on company business when they are driving, whether in personal vehicles or company vehicles. Under a legal theory called respondeat superior, or “vicarious responsibility,” and employer may be held liable for negligent employee activity if the worker “was acting within the scope of his or her employment at the time of a crash,” a concept that has been defined liberally in court cases the NSC says.

OSHA has outlined the dangers of distracted driving:

• Distracted driving crashes killed more than 5,400 people and injured nearly 500,000 in 2009
• Researchers report that texting while driving claimed more than 16,000 lives from 2001 to 2007.
• Reaction time is delayed for a driver talking on a cell phone as much as it is for a driver who is legally drunk.
• Drivers who are texting take their eyes off the road 400% more than when they are not texting.
• More texting leads to more crashes. With each additional 1 million text messages, fatalities from distracted driving rose more than 75%.

As of September 2012, 39 states (including DC, Guam and the USVI) have banned text messaging for all drivers, and talking on a hand-held mobile phone while driving is banned in 10 of those states. OSHA has also said it will investigate credible complaints of employers requiring texting while driving and, if necessary, cite and penalize offending companies. OSHA has recommended that employers do the following:

• Prohibit texting while driving, OSHA encourages employers to declare their vehicles “text-free zones” and to emphasize that commitment to their workers, customers, and communities.
• Establish work procedures and rules that do not make it necessary for workers to text or call while driving in order to carry out their duties.
• Set up clear procedures, times and places for drivers’ safe use of texting and other technologies for communicating with managers, customers, and others.
• Incorporate safe communication practices into worker orientation and training.
• Eliminate financial and other incentive systems that encourage workers to text while driving.

To learn more about how OSHA can help, visit www.OSHA.gov. Or call your Solution Services representative today! We can help implement new policies, provide education and supplies, and present and document training.