Workplace transport safety An employers' guide - ARRI Lighting Rental

Safe vehicles
Safe vehicles in general
Health and Safety
Executive
531 By law, every employer must make sure that work equipment (which includes
vehicles) is suitable for its purpose.
532 The law also requires that every employer, when choosing work equipment,
must take account of the working conditions and the risks to the health and safety
of people using the work equipment.
533 By law, employers must also take account of any further risk posed by the use
of chosen work equipment.
534 The design of vehicles used on public roads has to meet specific legal
standards, set out in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations. The
overall standard of vehicles used in workplaces should be at least as good as
for public roads. In some cases, there are specific supply standards dealing with
mobile plant in the workplace (for example, some lift trucks).
535 Some workplaces or types of work are particularly dangerous (for example,
building sites), so there may need to be specific standards for vehicles used in
these places.
Suitable for the task
536 Workplace vehicles should be stable under working conditions and provide
a safe way to get into and out of the cab, and any other parts of the vehicle that
need to be accessed regularly.
537 Access features on vehicles, such as ladders, steps or walkways, should have
the same basic features as site-based access systems. See chapter Preventing
falls from workplace vehicles and Site-based access to vehicles (paragraphs 498-
522) for more information on safe ways of accessing vehicles.
Case study 8
An employee of a logistics firm was delivering to a distribution warehouse
in a curtain-sided lorry, when he received a serious hand injury.
A warehouse employee was using a fork-lift truck to offload pallets of
newspapers. The trailer’s centre pole was obstructing one of the pallets.
The lorry driver tried to remove the pole manually, but other pallets were
pushing against it so he couldn’t remove the locking pin. It was decided to
relieve pressure on the locking pin by using the fork-lift truck to push the
pole, and the lorry driver’s hand was either struck or trapped by one of the
forks, which severed his index finger.
The firms’ risk assessments had failed to identify this unsafe system of
work, which was common practice in the warehouse. Both firms were
prosecuted and have now revised their systems and trained staff how to
remove poles safely.
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