Reviewed and updated July 2026. Statistics reflect HSE’s 2025/26 provisional fatality figures, 2024/25 ill-health data and 2023/24 cost estimates.
While professional drivers and logistics operators dominate workplace road safety discussions, office staff who travel occasionally for meetings, training events, or client visits face real, often overlooked risks. These infrequent journeys present hazards that many employers fail to address adequately.
Work-related travel is a serious, often underestimated risk. According to provisional HSE data for 2025/26, 126 workers were killed in work-related accidents1, and workplace transport incidents remain a major contributor to fatal and serious injuries2. While these numbers may seem small compared with total road fatalities, they represent a significant proportion of preventable workplace deaths, and countless others suffer serious injuries each year.
Even occasional journeys for meetings, training, or client visits carry risks, not just for the travelling employee but for the wider public. Employers often underestimate these risks for staff who do not travel regularly, leaving occasional travellers exposed to preventable accidents.
Why occasional travel creates unexpected risks
Underestimated exposure: Employers may dismiss infrequent business trips as low-risk activities, failing to recognise that even a single work journey can lead to serious incidents3.
Lack of preparation: Unlike professional drivers, office staff may undertake journeys without route planning, vehicle checks, or guidance on managing fatigue4.
Unfamiliar environments: Occasional travellers often navigate unknown routes, potentially in challenging weather or peak traffic4, increasing accident risk.
Legal obligations overlooked: Many employers do not fully recognise their responsibilities under health and safety law. Even infrequent travel carries real risks, highlighting the need to fulfil legal duties.
The scale of work-related road risk
Work-related incidents do not only harm the workforce. Alongside the 126 worker deaths in 2025/26, a further 104 members of the public were killed in incidents connected to work activity1. This underlines that the consequences of work-related travel extend well beyond the employee behind the wheel.
The economic impact is substantial. An estimated 40.1 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and injury in 2024/252, with the cost of workplace injuries and new cases of work related ill health estimated at £22.9 billion (2023/24)2.
Even a single incident can have significant financial, legal, and reputational consequences for organisations.
Legal responsibilities and compliance
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all employees3, including during work-related travel.
It is important for employers to understand when travel falls under their legal duties. HSE guidance clarifies the distinction between commuting and work-related travel: health and safety law does not generally apply to journeys between home and a person’s usual place of work, but it does apply where they travel from home to somewhere that is not their usual workplace4.
This means that journeys to client meetings, training events, or seminars, even when starting from home, fall under employer responsibilities3.
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must:
- Conduct suitable and sufficient risk assessments4
- Implement preventive and protective measures4
- Provide health and safety information and training4
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 further emphasises corporate responsibility for safety failures that result in death5.
Practical risk management strategies
To manage work travel risks effectively, employers should adopt a structured approach that combines risk assessment, preparation, policy, monitoring, and employee wellbeing:
1. Risk assessment
- Formally assess all work-related journeys, including infrequent trips4
- Consider journey distance, duration, and timing (including seasonal and weather conditions)
- Assess driver experience, route familiarity, and vehicle suitability
2. Driver preparation and training
- Confirm vehicle use: company, hire, or employee-owned
- Confirm vehicle insurance cover
- Conduct pre-journey vehicle checks and route planning4
- Provide guidance on fatigue management and emergency procedures
- Tailor advice for occasional travellers
3. Policy development
- Set clear rules for journey times, rest breaks, and vehicle standards4
- Set clear rules for driver performance, including use of mobile phones
- Define incident and near-miss reporting procedures
- Outline support for employees involved in accidents
4. Supporting employee wellbeing
- Provide guidance on managing travel-related stress
- Offer flexible arrangements during adverse conditions
- Ensure access to employee assistance programmes
- Deliver training and guidance on safe travel practices and risk management4
5. Ongoing monitoring and review
- Track incidents, near-misses, and changes in travel patterns4
- Benchmark against industry best practice
- Update policies to reflect legislative changes and lessons learned
Work-related travel often carries underestimated risks, even for occasional travellers. Employers must uphold legal and moral responsibilities by providing policies, training, and support. Prevention costs are invariably lower than the human, financial, and reputational consequences.
By proactively managing these risks, employers can protect their workforce, comply with the law, and contribute to broader road safety improvements across the UK.
Please note: This blog provides general health and safety guidance for UK workplaces. Following these steps does not guarantee legal compliance. To conduct a full health and safety self-assessment today, download our Health & Safety 360° Guide 2026/2027.
References
1 Health and Safety Executive. Latest annual work-related fatalities published (1 July 2026)
2 Health and Safety Executive. Key figures for Great Britain
3 Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
4 Health and Safety Executive. Driving at work: Managing work-related road safety (INDG382)
