Health & safety – Spotlight on the transport sector

29 September 2023

Introduction

Operating commercial vehicles presents a high risk, not just due to the exposure of the vagaries of other road users whilst out on road network but also during the manoeuvrings required in operating centres and the yards/depots of customers. For goods vehicle operators the risks associated with the loading and unloading process need to be seriously considered.

Given the panoply of risks involved, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is focusing on commercial vehicle operators. Many of the recent HSE case reports include examples of successful prosecutions against operators with six and seven figure fines attached. Many of these prosecutions are for the same issues, namely vehicle and pedestrian collisions in yards/depots and during loading/unloading of HGVs. Consequently, it is more important than ever that businesses and employers in this sector are 1) aware of the duties they have towards their employees and visitors to their sites and 2) review/update current procedures with regards to health and safety.

In this article, we carry out a whistle-stop tour of some of the relevant legislation and provide examples of a recent cases where things have gone wrong.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

The primary piece of legislation setting out the health and safety duties is The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSW). Under the HSW, all employers have a duty to:

Ensure the safety of their employees and anyone else who may be affected by their activity.
Provide plant and systems of work that are safe and absent of risk.
Arrange for a safe way to handle, store, and transport substances.
Provide the appropriate training, supervision and information to ensure their employees can operate safely.
Maintain its place of work to ensure it’s safe with regards to both its condition and accessibility.
Provide adequate facilities and arrangements for employees welfare at work.

The HSE provides extensive guidance which assists operators on both workplace transport safety (systems to ensure safety in operating centres/depots) and loading/unloading which all operators are advised to review and cross reference against their existing systems. Examples of the guidance given in these documents includes:

Ensuring segregation between pedestrians and vehicles.
As far as possible, avoid reversing. Where reversing is unavoidable, safe systems must be implemented to reduce reversing to a minimum and the risk of a collision.
Schedule loading/collections and deliveries to avoid periods where employees are arriving on or leaving site.
Only those trained in loading/unloading vehicles or manoeuvring vehicles, engage in those activities.
Control measures need to be in place where working at height can’t be avoided when loading or unloading, for example gantries or platforms fitted with guard rails.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSR) are key regulations in the health & safety arena. Amongst other things, the MHSR highlights the importance of risk assessments. Indeed, it’s an offence not to have a suitable and sufficient written risk assessment in a business employing five or more people.

Risk assessments are where the health and safety systems start and very often the risk assessments are out-dated, generic or even non-existent. It’s vital that operators regularly review their risk assessments and keep them up to date. A risk assessment in place at one site is highly unlikely to be sufficient for another site. Very often operators utilise the same risk assessments across sites – these fail to consider the risks specific to the site in question. A further common misunderstanding is that a risk assessment is created by the management as a method to identify risk and find solutions (control measures) to reduce that risk to an acceptable level. The risk assessment is not a document to issue to employees instructing them how to act. Those instructions need to be set out in a separate document that’s easily understood by employees and provides a platform for training the employees on the systems for reducing risk. There’s no point producing a risk assessment where the control measures aren’t adequately communicated to employees or enforced by management.

Recent case examples

The starting point for health and safety offences is the annual turnover of the business. This means that a smaller business will be fined far less than a large business for the same offence. The following examples give an impression of the fines imposed in recent cases involving transport businesses:

Two separate but similar cases resulting in the death of an employee where part of a tipper came into contact with an overhead power line resulted in a fine for one company of £600,000 and £150,000 for another company.
A transport company was fined £255,000 after a worker fell and fractured his skull whilst unloading a lorry. Insufficient control measures were found to be in place for unloading activities.
A £1.6 million fine against a large company where life changing injuries were suffered by a tradesman who was crushed by a lorry reversing into a loading bay.
A £2.2 million fine issued against a large company following the death of an employee who was struck by a vehicle reversing out of a maintenance bay. The HSE found there was a lack of marked walkways and effective barriers. Standard practice was for people to take the most convenient route across the yard rather than the safe route.

Health and safety offences don’t just carry financial penalties. There are examples of directors and managers being imprisoned following health and safety breaches:

A director of a waste collection and recycling company was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community service after a worker died after they were struck by a reversing telehandler. The company was also fined £500,000. The HSE investigation found that the company had failed to address the management of large vehicle movements on its site, had not carried out an on-site health and safety inspection and the driver concerned had not been trained.
A director was imprisoned for 13 years after two employees died in a tanker, following a conviction of health and safety offences and gross negligence manslaughter.

Most operators rightly worry about the obvious safety implications and the risks of their employees out driving on the road. What is often overlooked is the “peripheral work” that employees are required to undertake in the safety of the operating centre/depot.

Operators are strongly advised to review the guidance issued by the HSE and review their risk assessments with a critical eye.

Backhouse Jones has industry specific knowledge and experience in advising both haulage and passenger vehicle operators in relation to health and safety systems/issues, including investigations and prosecutions brought by the HSE. The optimum time to seek legal advice is before the accident has occurred, or as soon as possible after an accident has occurred.

For more expert guidance on everything relating to the commercial vehicle operations and your operator’s licence contact Backhouse Jones’ team of specialist road transport solicitors by clicking here, call 01254 828 300, or email regulatory@backhouses.co.uk.