Health & Safety

HSE Look to Take a Load Off Injury Rates

A three-month campaign will see HSE inspection teams from its construction division visit sites around the country clamping down on the unsafe unloading of vehicles.

The back of an average flat bed truck is not far off 2m, an arbitrary measure that many consider the difference between working at height and working on the ground.

Of the 77 construction workers killed last year, 23 were killed by a fall from height. Four of these involved heights of less than 2m.

"Every year 2,000 workers are seriously injured falling from their vehicle. It is vital that those who work in the transport industry take the issue seriously. Last year four workers lost their lives falling from their truck, and the cost of these deaths and serious injuries to the industry is in excess of £35 million a year." - Health & Safety Commission Chair, Judith Hackett

While it's up to the haulage company to provide safe methods of working for its employees, the emphasis is on the contractor to prove it has the site management in place that allows for the safe loading and unloading of goods.

The latest HSE campaign will look to site managers and those responsible for directing loading and unloading to impress the dangers involved on all staff.

According to HSE figures some 70 percent of injuries due to falls from vehicles occur not to drivers but to those unloading. This compares with a rate of 25 percent in other industries.

January 2008