By silicon.com, 4 November 2003 17:05
On 1 December new laws come into effect in the UK which will make it illegal to drive while talking into a handheld mobile phone.
This is big news for the 12 per cent of employees who are required to have their phones on for work - whether they are driving, down the shops or in the bath. In IT that percentage is likely to be even higher due to the critical nature of systems and those who maintain them.
This is also big news for the 62 per cent of bosses who currently do nothing to protect the welfare of those mobile-dependent workers. These bosses realise that investment is now required if they are to avoid picking up fines in the region of up to £1,000.
The imminent legislation will make many bosses sort their acts out. However, we can't help thinking it's a shame that the threat of legal action, rather than the threat of injury to staff, is the motivation.
Such thinking should have been handed down by HR departments as part of workplace health and safety codes - not by fearful legal departments.
It has long been widely acknowledged that driving while talking into a handset puts a driver and those also in or in the vicinity of a vehicle at risk.
Department of Transport figures put the increased risk of accident at 400 per cent. And while many claim the simple act of chatting to anybody is distracting, that's open to some interpretation. What is in no doubt is that driving one-handed is undoubtedly fraught with danger.
That means solutions such as voice-activated handsfree kits are being bought up and rolled out across organisations with a mobile workforce.
Not before time. Shame it's for such self-serving reasons.
Comments
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1. Faris Sipi
You are right in saying that this should have been an HR issue rather than a legal issue. Mind you HR departments are, in the main, run by professional careerists who are there to defend the corporation at the expense of the employee. The reason is that they are not highly sought after people so they tend to self serve than serve and improve the working conditionsof the work force, which should be their actual duty.
2. anonymous
You seem to be assuming the liability for paying these fines would be the employer's, which is simply not true. Just because an employee commits a crime during work time, doesn't mean that their boss has to foot the resultant bill. My boss won't even agree to occasional parking tickets. (Ed note. But if your boss *made* you park on a yellow line - in the same way mobile workers are told to have their mobiles switched on and answer all calls - then you'd probably have a case.)