Not directly. The cleanliness requirement in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 does not apply to a licensed road vehicle, so there is no specific HSE rule on how clean a company car must be. The duty comes instead from the general obligations in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the risk-assessment regulations — and those still reach the inside of a car used for work.
What do the Workplace Regulations say about vehicles?
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, with their Approved Code of Practice (L24), set standards for workplace cleanliness, ventilation, temperature and facilities. Regulation 3 disapplies most of those requirements — including the cleanliness regulation — where the workplace is a vehicle licensed for the road. A company car is a place of work while it is being driven for work, but the Workplace Regulations’ cleanliness standard is not the rule that governs it.
Where does an employer’s duty for company car hygiene come from?
It comes from three general duties that do apply to cars used for work:
| Source | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 | Ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of employees |
| Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 | Assess the risks of work activities, including work-related driving, and act on the findings |
| Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) | Work equipment — which includes vehicles used for work — must be suitable and maintained in an efficient state and good repair |
HSE’s guide Driving at work: managing work-related road safety (INDG382) brings these together for vehicles. Cleanliness is part of the picture where it affects safety or health: dirty glass and mirrors reduce visibility, loose debris in footwells can interfere with pedals, and a shared cabin that is never cleaned is a hygiene question for the next driver.
Which company cars carry the most hygiene risk?
Shared cars carry the most. A car assigned to one driver is largely that driver’s environment; a pool car changes hands, sometimes several times a day, and each driver inherits whatever the last one left. Our piece on pool car hygiene and duty of care goes into the shared-car case in detail.
What does a proportionate cleaning regime look like?
A proportionate regime matches cleaning to how the car is used and records that it happened. Fleet managers should consider:
- Frequency: often enough to stop dirt, dust and spills building up — more often for shared and high-use cars.
- Method: suitable for the interior materials, without leaving residues on surfaces drivers touch.
- Records: a log of each clean, so the regime can be shown to exist if it is ever questioned.
- Disruption: cleaning that fits around when the cars are needed, rather than taking them out of use.
A scheduled mobile valet covers all four. It runs where the cars are parked during the working day, uses a waterless method with no slip hazard from standing water, and every MMCC visit records a 20-point Vehicle Health Check — each point marked OK, Advisory or Urgent, with photos of anything flagged — which doubles as the cleaning log.
Where does ozone treatment fit?
Ozone treatment deals with odour, which cleaning surfaces alone does not always reach. Odour held in seat fabric, headlining and ventilation ducts can outlast a thorough valet, particularly in shared cars. A mobile ozone treatment, available at £45, treats the cabin at source without wetting it. Details are on our mobile ozone odour removal page.
What should a fleet or HR manager do next?
- Include company cars — especially pool cars — in the risk assessment for work-related driving.
- Set a cleaning frequency per car type, based on use and driver feedback.
- Arrange cleaning that happens where the cars are parked, so it does not depend on drivers finding time.
- Keep a dated log of each visit: date, registration, service and any notes on condition.
- Review the log with the rest of the driving-at-work documentation.
Our rounds cover the area around mobile car valeting in Esher and mobile car valeting in Cobham, and fleet programmes are set out on our Corporate fleet services page.
Fleet managers can map cleaning frequency and records across their cars through a Fleet Readiness Audit.