Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

9.4 
Hazards in vehicle operations
Many different kinds of vehicle are used in the workplace, 
including dumper trucks, heavy goods vehicles, all ter-
rain vehicles and, perhaps the most common, the fork lift 
truck. Approximately 70 persons are killed annually fol-
lowing vehicle accidents in the workplace. There are also 
over 1000 major accidents (involving serious fractures, 
head injuries and amputations) caused by:
➤
collisions between pedestrians and vehicles
➤
people falling from vehicles
➤
people being struck by objects falling from vehicles
➤
people being struck by an overturning vehicle
➤
communication problems between vehicle drivers 
and employees or members of the public.
A key cause of these accidents is the lack of competent 
and documented driver training. HSE investigations, for 
example, have shown that in over 30% of dumper truck 
accidents on construction sites, the drivers had little experi -
ence and no training. Common forms of these accidents 
(a)
(b)
Figure 9.5
(a) Internal roadway with appropriate markings; (b) unsafe stacks of heavy boxes.

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include driving into excavations, overturning while driving 
up steep inclines and runaway vehicles which have been 
left unattended with the engine running.
Risks of injuries to employees and members of the 
public involving vehicles could arise due to the following 
occurrences:
➤
collision with pedestrians
➤
collision with other vehicles
➤
overloading of vehicles
➤
overturning of vehicles
➤
general vehicle movements and parking
➤
dangerous occurrences or other emergency inci-
dents (including fi re)
➤
access and egress from the buildings and the site.
There are several other more general hazardous situ-
ations involving pedestrians and vehicles. These include 
the following:
➤
reversing of vehicles, especially inside buildings
➤
poor road surfaces and/or poorly drained road 
surfaces
➤
roadways too narrow with insuffi cient safe parking 
areas
➤
roadways poorly marked out and inappropriate or 
unfamiliar signs used
➤
too few pedestrian crossing points
➤
the non-separation of pedestrians and vehicles
➤
lack of barriers along roadways
➤
lack of directional and other signs
➤
poor environmental factors, such as lighting, dust 
and noise
➤
ill-defi ned speed limits and/or speed limits which are 
not enforced
➤
poor or no regular maintenance checks
➤
vehicles used by untrained and/or unauthorized 
personnel
➤
poor training or lack of refresher training.
Vehicle operations need to be carefully planned so that 
the possibility of accidents is minimized.