RSA TV Adverts

Andy From Sligo

Can someone explain to me about the "if you are driving for work.... your at work!" TV advert because it don't make sense to me

valoren

When you go to work in an office for example, your employer is legally obliged to provide a duty of care to you and the other employees.
The ad is intended to highlight the risk of negligence to employer's who provide vehicles which employees require to do their jobs. They have a duty of care for the employees the same as in an office or factory etc.

They also have a duty of care towards the public because they use vehicles on public roads.
For example, you run a Domino's Pizza. You hire a delivery driver.
The driver, has been drinking, and is over the drink drive limit then is involved in an accident while delivering Pizzas.

Or you run a taxi company, a taxi is not insured and is involved in a fatal road accident.

The ad isn't immediately obvious, I'll give you that.

Alternatively, it could be geared towards the employees themselves who drive.
You are more likely to bend the rules of the road in order to get the job done quicker.
i.e speeding, dangerous overtaking etc.

The ad could be a warning to obey the rules of the road despite having pressure of strict deliverables or service level agreements etc

Andy From Sligo

valoren wrote: »

When you go to work in an office for example, your employer is legally obliged to provide a duty of care to you and the other employees.
The ad is intended to highlight the risk of negligence to employer's who provide vehicles which employees require to do their jobs. They have a duty of care for the employees the same as in an office or factory etc.

They also have a duty of care towards the public because they use vehicles on public roads.
For example, you run a Domino's Pizza. You hire a delivery driver.
The driver, has been drinking, and is over the drink drive limit then is involved in an accident while delivering Pizzas.

Or you run a taxi company, a taxi is not insured and is involved in a fatal road accident.

The ad isn't immediately obvious, I'll give you that.

Alternatively, it could be geared towards the employees themselves who drive.
You are more likely to bend the rules of the road in order to get the job done quicker.
i.e speeding, dangerous overtaking etc.

The ad could be a warning to obey the rules of the road despite having pressure of strict deliverables or service level agreements etc

ah right, OK thanks. So it seems then its more aimed at the employer than the employee .. although there is an element of saying to the employee that even though you are driving for a company you have a responsibility to remember that you are driving for a company and not your own pleasure, or how you would drive if you were not in a works vehicle ... have I got that right?

valoren

I think the ad is more focused on showing employees responses to the death of a work colleague due to negligence on the employers behalf. The message being that employers must do everything necessary to ensure employee safety.

It could be as simple as having a driving for work policy in place for employees, ensuring that they review and sign these policies on an annual basis for example. That's the message of the ad, get a safety policy in place for employees who drive at work. If an employee driving for a company is involved in an accident then the liability is not with the employer. I'm not exactly sure what a 'Driving at work' policy would entail but I can imagine it would contain legalese such as 'if you break the rules of the road, then we're not liable' etc

If it came to court, then they can argue that they had a safety policy in place, that the employee reviewed and signed it, they had the appropriate license and training, and the fact that they ran through a red light and caused a fatal collision is therefore not the responsibility of the employer. Essentially, it is to foster fear of liability to employers.