Workplace transport safety An employers' guide - ARRI Lighting Rental

Case study 5
Health and Safety
Executive
A temporary worker was struck by a lift truck and injured as he left the site
at the end of the day. As he crossed in front of a door used by lift trucks, he
suffered serious injuries when the forks of an emerging vehicle knocked him
down.
The employee had not heard the vehicle horn and had received no
information on general workplace hazards and how to avoid them. Vehicle
and pedestrian routes were not marked or segregated. There were no
markings on the doors to indicate their use and drivers could not see
employees outside the building, as there were no vision panels in the doors.
The site operator is responsible for assessing the risks at the workplace
arising out of work activities, and for taking the measures necessary to
reduce those risks so that they are as low as ‘reasonably practicable’.
310 By law, traffic routes must also be suitably indicated where necessary, for
reasons of health or safety.
311 You should mark and sign routes across open areas or yards.
312 You may also need suitable road markings and signs to alert drivers to
restrictions on using traffic routes. See Signs, signals and markings (paragraphs
393-402) for more information.
313 You may need to highlight hazards on traffic routes by using suitable warning
signs. These hazards may include:
n sharp bends;
n junctions;
n crossings;
n blind corners;
n steep gradients; and
n roadworks.
314 There is more information about pedestrian and cyclist crossing points in
Pedestrians and cyclists in paragraphs 371-392. There is more information about
hazard signs in Signs, signals and markings in paragraphs 393-402.
315 It may be useful to provide a plan of the workplace at the entrance (and at
other appropriate points) showing vehicle routes, one-way systems and so on.
This would be particularly useful at workplaces that have visiting drivers.
316 It is important to plan where certain types of vehicle operation will take place.
These include loading, unloading, tipping, trimming, sheeting and other vehicle
activities.
317 It is also important to plan where waste or recycling bins, skips or other
containers are placed. Delivering, collecting or exchanging ‘demountable’
containers can need complicated and repetitive vehicle movements, and plenty of
space should be allowed both around and overhead. Reversing visibility is often
poor as containers block the line of sight behind the vehicle.
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