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The Minibus Handbook
Definition
Minibuses are motor vehicles that have been constructed or adapted to carry more than eight, but not more than 16, passengers in addition to the driver.
Responsibilities
Anyone who operates a minibus service to carry passengers has a duty to take all reasonable precautions to ensure that it is operated safely.
HSE Guidelines, 'Driving at Work', state that:
'health and safety law applies to on-the-road work activities and the risks should be effectively managed within a health and safety system.'
This also applies to voluntary organisations; the HSE Guide, Charity and Voluntary Workers:
A Guide to Health and Safety at Work, states:
'In general the same health and safety standards should be applied to voluntary workers as they would to employees exposed to the same risks. However, if the risk assessment shows that the risks to voluntary workers are different, the preventive and protective measures taken should reflect the different risks.
'HSE considers it good practice for a volunteer user to provide the same level of health and safety protection as they would in an employer/employee relationship, irrespective of whether there are strict legal duties.'
It is also an offence under road traffic law to cause, or permit, a minibus to be driven on the road when its condition, or the way in which it is used, could cause danger to anyone in the minibus or to other road users.
Operators must comply with all relevant legal requirements, the advice in the Highway Code, and take all other reasonable measures to protect the driver, the passengers and other road users from collision and injury risks. Essentially, this means that, within its normal framework for managing health and safety at work, the organisation should conduct suitable risk assessments and ensure that journeys are safe, drivers are fit and competent, and the minibus is fit-for-purpose and in a safe condition. The management system must be monitored to ensure that drivers are complying with all requirements, and adequate records must be kept.
Operators must conduct a written risk assessment of the management of their minibus service.
Risk Assessments must be conducted by 'competent persons'. They must be recorded, and regularly updated, to demonstrate that the operator has taken reasonable care, and to enable the service to be monitored to ensure that standards, once set, are maintained, reviewed and improved.
Legal requirements
Every minibus must:
- Be correctly licensed
- Display a valid tax disc
- Be adequately insured
- Be well maintained
- Have a valid MoT certificate (if more than one year old)
Minibus permits
A minibus that is used to carry passengers for 'hire or reward' is normally classed as a Public Service Vehicle (PSV).The Operator must comply with PSV Operator Licensing and Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) driver licensing requirements.
» The full, 11 page, version of this document is available free of charge on request.
Courtesy of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)
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