Web Published 9/2004
Going and Coming
Rule Safety Reminders

Premises Safety Tips Make sure the employer owned or provided parking and walking areas are well lighted and in good repair. Be sure employee parking lot(s) are well controlled in terms of vehicle exposures. Be sure that traffic direction, pedestrian crosswalks, blind spots and other warnings are clearly marked. Vehicular visitors for the first time are especially in need of this warning information. Remove snow and ice as soon as possible from walking and parking surfaces. Have a snow removal plan for your workplace. Escort with a witness all terminated employees to their vehicles and off the employer's premises. You don't want a terminated employee having an un-witnessed trip or fall on your premises and possibly filing an injury claim. Proximity Safety Tips Know where your employees are parking, especially if you provide offsite-parking areas owned or maintained by the employer. Are their any special hazards the employees may encounter while walking to your place of employment from the employer owned parking areas? Railroad-tracks, steep incline or unpaved pathways, staircases, construction debris, alleys etc. As an employer are you controlling these special hazards effectively? If you have employees taking unsafe walking shortcuts, issue regular reminders to all employees of the proper route/path to use while walking to the employer's premises. Special Errand Safety Tips Be careful in requesting "urgent" and/or special errands of your employees. The element of urgency may change the trip from a regular commute into a special errand. Even asking your employee to pick up lunch for him/her on the way back from their lunch could be construed as "in the course of employment". Be cautious in asking disgruntled, poor performing or new employees to be on-call or to run urgent errands after hours. Their lack of focus and potential negative attitude in running the errand may lead to an accident. The Free Transportation Exception Safety Tip If an employer provides a company owned, or leased vehicle to an employee, special safeguards need to be created, regardless of the number of business miles driven. Driving records should be pulled on a regular basis and written acceptable driver record criteria (based on points and accidents) should be developed, documented and enforced. These rules also apply to those employees who use their own personal vehicles for regular "business" use, whether or not they are reimbursed for mileage.