Company bans hands free phones in safety move

Telford-based Hager UK has banned its company car drivers from using hands free car phones as part of new occupational road risk measures.

Peter Davies, Hager MD, said: “On a number of occasions I had driven somewhere but had no real recollection of the journey because I had been too busy concentrating on a phone call. That doesn’t happen now. I have stopped talking and am focused fully on driving.”

Hager’s HR manager Paula Pardoe said the company had always been ‘very health and safety conscious’ but with changing legislation they needed to do even more to protect staff. “Part of our long term commitment is to find the cause of any accidents and whether our sales employees are planning their days as effectively as they could be.”