01 May 2009
Lawrence Bamber

Element C1 of the NEBOSH National Diploma syllabus is titled General Workplace Issues. It requires candidates to be able to: "explain the need for, and factors involved in, the provision and maintenance of a safe and healthy working environment, with reference to access and egress, temperature, lighting, welfare arrangements, first aid and safety signage".

Sub-element C1.1 is Safe Place of Work, Access/Egress and Traffic Routes, and includes the need for candidates to be able to "describe the provision of safe traffic routes; dangers and precautions associated with internal transport".

Workplace transport means any vehicle that is used in a work setting, such as forklift trucks, compact dumpers, tractors and mobile cranes. It can also include cars, vans and large goods vehicles when these are operating off the public highway - reversing into loading bays, for example. It specifically excludes transport on the public highway, air, rail and water transport, and specialised transport used in underground mining. But a goods vehicle that is loading or unloading on the public highway counts as workplace transport.

The main types of accident associated with workplace transport are people being struck by moving vehicles, falling from vehicles (jumping out of cabs or from the tops of high-sided trailers) and being hit by objects falling from vehicles (usually part of a load).

The Workplace Regs

The legislation that covers workplace traffic movements is the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. But more generally, the best way of reducing accidents associated with vehicle movements is to adopt the Highway Code - which is, in fact, the Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) to the Road Traffic Acts - in the workplace.

The ACoP to the Workplace Regulations gives specific advice and guidance on how to comply with them.

• Para 161: in some situations, people in wheelchairs may be at greater risk than people on foot, and special consideration should be given to their safety. Traffic routes used by people in wheelchairs should be wide enough to allow unimpeded access, and ramps should be provided where necessary.
• Para 163: sharp or blind bends on vehicle routes should be avoided. Where they are unavoidable, measures such as one-way systems and/or mirrors to improve vision should be considered.
• Para 164: sensible speed limits should be set and displayed clearly on vehicle routes.
• Para 167: the need for vehicles with poor rear visibility to reverse should be eliminated by the use of one-way systems.
• Para 168: where large vehicles have to reverse, measures for reducing risks to pedestrians and any people in wheelchairs should be considered, such as:

(a)  restricting reversing to places where it can be carried out safely
(b)  keeping people on foot or in wheelchairs away
(c)  providing suitable high-visibility clothing for those people who are permitted in the area
(d)  fitting reversing alarms to alert, or a detection device to warn, the driver of an obstruction, or apply the brakes automatically
(e) employing banksmen to supervise the safe movement of vehicles.

Whatever measures are adopted, a written safe system of work should operate at all times. Site operators should take account of people with impaired sight or hearing.

• Para 169: if crowds of people are likely to overflow onto roadways, consideration should be given to stopping vehicles from using the routes at such times.
• Para 171: any traffic route which is used by both pedestrians and vehicles should be wide enough to enable any vehicle likely to use the route to pass pedestrians safely.
• Para 173: vehicles should be separated from pedestrians by a kerb or barrier. Where necessary for safety, separate routes through should be provided and pedestrians should be guided to use the designated route by clear marking.
• Para 175: where pedestrians and vehicle routes cross, appropriate crossing points should be provided and used.
• Para 178: potential hazards on traffic routes used by vehicles should be indicated by suitable warning signs.
• Para 179: suitable road markings and signs should be used to alert drivers to any restrictions which apply to the use of a traffic route. Adequate directions should also be provided to relevant parts of the workplace.
• Para 180: any signs used in connection with traffic should comply with the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 1981 and the Highway Code.

Common law

Anyone in control of a workplace is therefore liable if they are not following the Workplace Regs and ACoP, so they have to be able to show they comply. The Workplace Regulations and ACoP and guidance transpose the Highway Code into the workplace.

Under common law, anyone in control  of a site owes a duty of care to all those invited onto their site: employees, contractors, visitors and members of the public, including anyone classed as being vulnerable, such as elderly or disabled people and young children.

To be able to show compliance with both statute and common law, vehicular access to site should be controlled via closed-circuit television, full-time security and clearly marked and signed traffic routes.

The site should have a designated, marked one-way system of traffic flow with convex mirrors sited on any bends or corners.

Extra protection should be given to disabled persons by having a clearly marked disabled parking area and a clear pedestrian/wheelchair route from this area to the nearest building entrance. Where this, or any other, pedestrian route crosses a designated traffic route, there should be a clearly marked zebra crossing. This disabled route could also be marked with the wheelchair symbol/logo.

Where large vehicles are routinely stopping to load or unload at loading bays, a certain amount of reversing is probably inevitable.

This operation should have its own risk assessment and a written safe system of work, incorporating traffic flow restrictions, temporary barriers and warning signage, and trained banksmen wearing high-visibility clothing.
Pedestrian routes should be marked and highlighted and should be totally separate from the designated traffic routes.

A week in view

The first step is to identify the work activities involving vehicles, including visiting vehicles, over a reasonable period, usually a week. Activities might include:

• arrival and departure
• travel around the workplace
• loading, unloading and securing loads
• sheeting
• coupling up
• vehicle maintenance.

The second step is to identify the hazards and risks associated with these activities. What are the possible dangers and what is causing those dangers?

• Could someone be hit by a vehicle?
• Could someone fall from a vehicle, getting in or out, or loading/unloading?
• Could someone be hit by an object falling from a vehicle?
• Could the vehicle tip over?

When looking for hazards, include:

• the vehicles themselves:
  • Are they safe and suitable for use?
  • Are they properly maintained?
  • Do they need to be replaced with new, safer models?
• the routes or roadways used by the vehicles:
  • Are they safe and suitable for the type and number of vehicles using them?
  • Are they properly maintained?
  • Have nearby obstructions, kerbs and edges been highlighted?
• what drivers are doing:
  • Are there pressures on drivers that might encourage them to work less safely?
  • Do they have to rush to complete their work on schedule?
  • Is there a risk of drivers becoming overtired?
  • Are they safe when they get into and out of the vehicle and during loading/unloading?
  • Are they observing designated routes and speed limits?
  • Are they tempted to use shortcuts in traffic routes - chicaning round speed humps, for example - or in safety procedures?
• what other people are doing:
  • Are other workers, customers and members of the public kept clear of workplace transport vehicles where practicable?

The HSE's free leaflet INDG 199 Workplace Transport Safety: An Overview  has a useful checklist for ensuring safe operation of transport on site, with factors to check grouped under the headings: Organising for safety; a safe site; safe vehicles and activities, such as parking, reversing, coupling and uncoupling, loading and unloading and tipping.

There is more detailed guidance in HSG 136 Workplace Transport Safety: An Employers' Guide (£11.50 from HSE Books, go to www.lexisurl.com/ydUR2). This is split into two main sections: Guidance for Managers, and Operational Guidance. In the appendices, the HSE provides a sample workplace transport risk assessment form and examples of a driver training log and a driver and vehicle record chart.

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Questions and answers

Question 8 on the Unit C, Workplace and Work Equipment, paper for January 2008 asked candidates to "Outline the design features and procedural arrangements that may need to be considered in order to minimise risks associated with movement of vehicles in the workplace." The examiners' report on that paper says this question (worth 20 marks) was very popular with candidates: however, there were a few whose answers lacked the necessary depth and breadth to satisfy an "outline" answer.

In outlining the design features, candidates should have referred to matters such as:

• providing traffic routes with smooth and stable surfaces and with the right width and headroom for the types of vehicles that will use them
• eliminating sharp bends, blind corners and steep gradients, and siting convex mirrors on those corners that can't be avoided
• installing a one-way system, to minimise the need for reversing
• including passing places for vehicles
• introducing speed limits and providing speed retarders
• providing a good standard of lighting for the traffic routes, and particularly at the transition areas between the inside and outside of buildings
• segregating vehicles and pedestrians, including separate access and egress, and providing clearly marked crossing places (zebra crossings).

The procedural arrangements would include:

• selecting and training competent drivers
• implementing a regular health screening programme for all drivers
• providing information on site rules for visitors, such as delivery drivers
• procedures for the regular maintenance of the traffic routes and the in-house vehicles, including a system for the reporting of defects and near-miss accidents
• rigorously enforcing speed limits, with the possibility of a points system on drivers' licences or permits.

Better by design

Question 3 of the Unit C examination paper for January 2006, worth 10 marks, reads: "Outline the main design features of a workplace designed to reduce the risk of injury associated with internal transport." The examiners' report says a number of candidates wasted time discussing behavioural and vehicle issues, training and maintenance, when this is a straightforward question about workplace design.

Features that could have been included are:

• those that segregate vehicles and pedestrians such as separate pedestrian access and egress
• inclusion of passing places
• protecting racking to reduce damage and the risk of items falling
• lighting
• barriers and raised walkways
• convex mirrors on blind corners
• suitable road surfaces
• edge protection on loading bays
• layout design avoiding sharp bends and blind corners
• designated crossing places for pedestrians
• lighting of transition areas between inside and outside to avoid glare
• ensuring the workplaces (and all traffic routes) are wide enough for vehicle types that may use the areas.

 

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Workplace transport law

Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations states the following.

1. Every workplace shall be organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner.
2. Traffic routes shall be suitable for the persons or vehicles using them, sufficient in number, in suitable positions and of sufficient size.
3. Traffic routes shall not satisfy the requirements (of the above) unless suitable measures are taken to ensure that:
    

(a) pedestrians or vehicles may use a (designated) traffic route without causing danger to the health and safety of persons near

(b) there is sufficient separation of any traffic route for vehicles from doors or gates or from traffic routes for pedestrians which lead onto it

(c) where vehicles and pedestrians use the same traffic route, there is sufficient separation between them.

4.  

All traffic routes shall be suitably indicated where necessary for reasons of health and safety.

 

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HSW has also covered workplace transport in detail, in three features focusing on the themes of safe site, safe vehicle and safe person. These articles are available at:

• Workplace Transport - A Place of Safety
• Workplace Transport - Machine Guard
• Workplace Transport - Ruling out Risk

 

This article was prepared on behalf of the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) by Lawrence Bamber, BSc, DIS, CFIOSH, FIRM, MASSE

Categories:
Qualifications, Training, Road safety, Transport, Article, Training, Workplace transport



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