Workplace transport safety An employers' guide - ARRI Lighting Rental

Preventing vehicles from
overturning
Common risks
970 Vehicle overturns cause nearly a fifth of all deaths related to workplace
transport.
Health and Safety
Executive
971 Fork-lift trucks, tractors, compact dumpers, tipper lorries, forestry and allterrain
vehicles and cranes are all especially likely to overturn.
972 People responsible for a workplace need to examine which vehicles are being
used, where and how.
Case study 15
A worker died when his vehicle toppled over an unprotected edge.
A weighbridge was set near the entrance of a waste-handling site. It was
raised about 30 cm above the level of the surrounding ground, and had no
edge protection.
An employee driving a 2.5 tonne counterbalance lift truck followed regular
practice and drove across the elevated weighbridge when a trailer blocked
the normal site access road. The rear left wheel went over a 22 cm vertical
edge and the truck toppled onto its side. The truck was not fitted with a
seat belt, and the driver died when his head was struck by part of the lift
truck frame.
Risk assessments had identified the potential for overturning – and the
lack of a seatbelt – but no remedial action had been taken. The firm was
prosecuted and fined.
973 There are a lot of reasons vehicles might overturn.
They include:
n travelling on slopes that are too steep;
n going over slippery surfaces (such as oil or grease patches);
n going over soft ground, potholes or uneven terrain;
n going over kerbs, steps or other edges;
n being overloaded or, for lift trucks such as fork-lift trucks, under-loaded (they
may be designed to be more stable when loaded);
n being unevenly loaded;
n going too quickly, especially around corners;
n not being suitable for the task; and
n carrying loads at a dangerous height (for example, with a lift truck load fully
raised).
974 You should think about ways of making overturns less likely, and ways to make
the consequences of an overturn less serious.
Workplace transport safety Page 115 of 144