Workplace transport safety An employers' guide - ARRI Lighting Rental

Health and Safety
Executive
8 It will never be possible to create a guide that covers every risk. Your
workplace will have risks that are specific to your location, your type of work, the
people you employ, the vehicles you use and the way you do things. Use the
Managing the risks and Operational guidance sections to give yourself an idea of
the sort of things you should consider when you think about vehicle safety in the
workplace.
9 This information is suitable for medium and large industrial and commercial
sites, but should also be useful for smaller businesses and for places such as
construction sites, quarries, farms and forestry operations. Guidance documents
specifically relating to these industries are also available, which you should refer to if
you work in these industries.
10 You do not have to follow this guidance. However, if you do follow it, you will
normally be doing enough to comply with the law.
11 Health and safety inspectors work to make sure people follow the law and may
use this guidance to show examples of good practice.
12 We do not accept responsibility for any action or decision you take based on
interpreting this guidance. If you are in any doubt, you should consult someone
who is competent in workplace transport issues.
The benefits for business
13 The cost of managing good health and safety is normally quite visible, but the
cost of failing to control risks is often absorbed into other operating costs and so is
harder to see.
14 As well as personal distress, a relatively minor accident (for example, one
which results in a few days off work) is likely to cost around £3500. A major
accident can cost around £30 000 – a cost which the employer normally has
to pay.
15 Costs of an accident to a business can include:
n repairing or replacing damaged capital;
n loss of or damage to goods;
n insurance costs;
n compensation payments;
n legal costs;
n paying for the time that people aren’t working because of the accident –
such as paying the injured person, anyone helping them, people cleaning up,
investigations;
n less efficient replacement workers, and the cost of training them;
n lost production efficiency;
n damaged reputation;
n damaged employee morale; and
n resulting costs to customers, especially where ‘just-in-time’ logistics processes
are used.
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