VEHICLE & FLEET SAFETY
NAVIGATING TRANSPORT RISKS
Over 5,000 accidents involving transport in the workplace are recorded by the HSE each year. Recent fines for Travis Perkins and Wilko for fatal accidents, have highlighted the importance of effective workplace transport management. Here, Emily Brimson, Health and Safety Consultant at Southalls, explores the areas that are most commonly overlooked.
Effectively minimising the risks posed by workplace transport is a key area of focus for the HSE, aspects of site design and management, vehicle safety, and employees’ fitness to drive are all areas that require more attention. By taking a proactive approach towards transport management, businesses can ensure compliance with relevant legislation, while successfully reducing potential threats to employee and customer safety.
SITE SAFETY One of the main causes of workplace transport accidents are employees and customers falling off the back of vehicles or being struck by them, as shown by the recent Travis Perkins accident. The builders’ merchant was fined over £2million after a Travis Perkins vehicle hit a customer.
Customer loading and unloading is a significant and common risk, but there are steps that can be taken to improve this element of site safety. Ideally, business owners should create an area for safe loading and unloading that is entirely separate from customer and pedestrian movements. Pedestrians and vehicles should be effectively segregated through the use of designated walkways and signage, and during busy periods, an experienced staff
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member should actively manage the yard to direct and advise customers, delivery drivers and contractors on where to park and unload.
VEHICLE SAFETY Employers also have a Duty of Care to ensure that all vehicles driven are fit for use and that safe driving practices are enforced. Earlier this year, retail giant, Wilko, received fines of just under £400,000 after an employee was crushed between two forklift trucks at its distribution centre.
Since 2002, it has been a legal requirement for all counterbalanced trucks, rough-terrain trucks, and side-loading trucks to be fitted with a seatbelt. Although business owners cannot ensure that all employees wear seatbelts at all times, they can achieve a trail of due diligence by ensuring all vehicles that legally require a seatbelt are fitted with one, including retrofitting older vehicles. It is also important to reference the legal requirement to always wear a seatbelt in the company safety policy and driver handbook, and to remind vehicle operators by placing signs and posters throughout the site.
DRIVER SAFETY The final aspect of the HSE’s workplace transport focus is an employee’s fitness to drive. The 2014
Glasgow bin lorry crash focused the industry’s attention onto this issue, when six people were killed after the driver lost consciousness at the wheel of the vehicle, having failed to disclose his health problems to employers.
As the assessment of an employee’s fitness to drive is conducted through a system of self-reporting, employers cannot physically stop drivers from lying about their health. However, they can require all drivers and lifting equipment operators to declare their fitness to drive via a health surveillance questionnaire on a regular basis, which can be tailored to each employee’s individual job role and the vehicle that they drive. Regular license checks should also be conducted, along with risk profiling, to identify individuals who may need additional training, and support including information on the risk from fatigue, driver comfort and substance use.
In high risk commercial environments with regular transport movements, such as builders’ merchant yards, the safety of both employees and customers must be consistently maintained. In order to achieve this, business operators must take a proactive approach to minimising the potential risks posed by workplace transport.
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