'Unbelievable' failure to control workplace transport risks

The research by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), also revealed that 28% of firms had not even bothered to carry out a risk assessment of their workplace transport operations.

The HSE defines 'workplace transport' any vehicle or piece of mobile equipment that is used in a work setting, but not on the public roads.

Every year around 70 people are killed, and a further 1,000 seriously injured, through workplace transport accidents in the UK - the second biggest cause of fatal and major accidents at work.

Tackling such incidents is a priority for the HSE, particularly as it believes that four out of five workplace transport accidents are preventable. It asked HSL to carry out the study to help establish where knowledge of hazards was lacking.

What's important?

Firms from five major sectors - manufacturing, services, agriculture, services and extraction & utility supply - were questioned. When it came to vehicles, most considered vehicle condition, vehicle maintenance, and protection drivers to be the most important issues.

For a safe site, good lighting, separating pedestrians and vehicles, and vehicle routes free from obstructions and congestion were most significant, while for drivers themselves, following safe driving procedures, and the provision of driver training were deemed of most importance.

However, 26% of those questioned had not provided any training for their workplace transport operators. Agriculture and construction were the worst for not offering training - 65% and 32% respectively.

Worryingly for the HSE, over half (57%) had not heard of the Executive's workplace transport safety initiative, and only 19% had read its 'Workplace Transport Safety: Guidance for Employers' publication.

The HSL report said there was a need to "further educate all sectors of industry" concerning the dangers of workplace transport, particularly supervision, reversing and inadequate safe systems of work, as these were the three areas where perceptions of importance were lowest.

Fatal incident

Norwich Union's casualty risk manager, Phil Grace, said it was "unbelievable" that more than a quarter of firms had failed to fulfil their legal requirement by carrying out a risk assessment. He added that training was an essential part of any programme to control workplace transport risks.

He went on to mention a recent case, which highlighted just how costly ignoring the risks posed by dangerous machinery - such as fork-lift trucks (FLTs) - could be.

"The managing director of a small landscape gardening firm left a fork-lift truck parked in gear with the keys in the ignition," he explained. "An employee wanted to use the FLT as a noise source to demonstrate ear defenders - she turned the key to start the engine, the FLT moved trapping her under the wheels. Unfortunately, the employee died from the injuries she received.

"The investigation carried out by the local authority found that the handbrake was defective, the FLT had not been maintained and none of the staff had been trained in the use of FLTs."