Workplace transport safety An employers' guide - ARRI Lighting Rental

Health and Safety
Executive
824 Working at height can involve being near dangerous objects, such as hot
vertical exhausts or overhead power lines.
825 Torn sheets or nets, breaking ropes or straps, or other accidents can all put
workers off balance and cause falls.
826 Sheets or nets can flap around if they are not properly secured. If large loads
are being covered, they may need more than one sheet. The places where two
sheets join can be opened up by the wind, which can disturb the load and let wind
and rain under the sheet.
827 Loads can move when being transported. This can be especially dangerous
when a driver arrives and begins to unsheet the load.
828 Sheeting often involves working in the same area as fork-lift trucks, which may
be involved in other activities but still pose a risk to people involved in sheeting or
unsheeting.
829 If a driver of a tipper lorry discharges the load with the sheet still on, air might
not be able to replace the load. If this happens, a vacuum can form behind the
load, which can break the sheeting system.
830 You should take effective measures to make sure sheeting and netting is
as safe as possible, within reason. You need to take account of the types of
load and vehicle, how often sheeting or unsheeting happens and other specific
characteristics of the workplace.
831 During loading, unloading and sheeting, vehicles that are used by employees
of more than one company should be considered ‘shared workplaces’, and so
suitable arrangements for safety should be made by everyone concerned. This
will involve the different companies co-operating with each other. See Deliveries
– communication (paragraphs 203-227) for more information on safety in shared
workplaces.
832 Wherever you can, remove the need for covering loads. Ask yourself if the load
actually needs sheeting or netting. If it is safe to leave a load without a covering, and if
road and environmental law allows it, you can avoid sheeting or netting altogether.
833 You may also need to speak to customers and suppliers about the need
for covering loads. Some companies expect loads to be sheeted even if this is
not really needed. You should be avoiding manually sheeting or netting wherever
possible, and you may need to explain to someone receiving a delivery why the
load will not be covered with a sheet or a net.
834 Try to find other ways of protecting a load, such as protecting each unit
separately (for example, shrink wrapping) or choosing loads prepacked in protective
sacks or containers.
835 You can also avoid sheeting by using other vehicles such as curtain-siders,
and containers that do not need sheeting. Enclosed ‘demountables’ (for example,
skips with tight lids), shipping containers and intermediate bulk carriers (IBCs) are
all alternatives to open-load bodies.
836 If sheeting is only done to secure a load, you should find another way that
doesn’t involve someone climbing on the vehicle or load. See chapter Loading and
unloading, and load safety for more information on securing loads.
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