Is Distracted Driving a Workplace Requirement?

Every year in the US, thousands of people die from car accidents involving distracted driving. Additionally, over half a million people are injured. The primary culprits of distracted driving are smartphones that can text, conference call, surf the web, tweet, and update Facebook. The push to end distracted driving is causing a lot of new legislation, much like drunk driving did. Unfortunately, one of the big causes of distracted driving is the workplace.

Back in September of 2010, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said, “Employers who require their employees to text while driving — or who organize work so that doing so is a practical necessity even if not a formal requirement – violate the OSHA Act. …We call upon all employers to prohibit any work policy or practice that requires or encourages workers to text while driving” The government is clearly looking into the connection between employers and distracted driving.

The focus of their criticism appears to be on jobs that compensate workers for speed-based performance, such as truck driving or visiting nurses. These are positions that OSHA tends to scrutinize – occupations which have real workplace safety issues. However, as more white-collar jobs become remote and/or mobile, the distracted driving issue becomes just as important. Employees such as sales people are commonly given smart phones (Blackberries/iPhones, etc..) and expected to be instantly responsive to clients and management.

If you manage a remote team, you should have use clear policies for distracted driving. Many employers will couch the emailing-while-driving requirement with concerns about safety, i.e. “be careful out there.” However, it is time for more draconian policies, as the lives of employees and others depend on it – corporate policies should clearly state that it is against company rules to use company mobile devices while driving and that employees found to be doing so will face disciplinary action. Additionally, it is one thing to state something in unread corporate handbooks and another for management to clearly state a strong “no emailing, surfing, tweeting, or texting” policy to every employee that is on the road.