When vehicles move around in workplaces they are a hazard to pedestrians, to other vehicles and to the driver.
Today we are looking at what control measures you can put in place at your workplace to improve the safe movement of vehicles.
The starting point is always to look at the basic health & safety management principles:
- Eliminate the hazard
- Create a safe place
- Create a safe person
Before then carrying out a risk assessment. The risk assessment should:
- Identify the various hazards
- Identifying the groups at risk
- Evaluate the risk by considering the existing control measures in place
- Evaluate what additional control measures are required to reduce the risks to an acceptable level
The risk assessment also needs to be documented and subject to regular reviews as the workplace changes, in response to incidents or periodically.
When considering additional control measures to put in place, you might want to consider the following:
- Vehicle free zones
- Pedestrian free zones
- Pedestrian walkways
- Barriers
- Separate site entrances for vehicles and pedestrians
- Set speed limits
- Reduce the number of vehicles on site (e.g. booking slot system)
- Banksmen
- Safe crossing points
- Eliminate blind spots (e.g. mirrors, transparent doors etc.)
- A good standard of lighting
- Appropriate signage
- Ensure ground surface is in good condition and maintained
- One-way traffic systems
- High-visibility clothing
- Training for drivers and pedestrians
The above control measures are by no means exhaustive, but should give you an idea of the types of control measure that you need to put in place to improve the safe movement of vehicles in the workplace.