There have been a number of fatal and serious accidents involving vehicles on roads in and around ports. It is not always clear what legislation applies to such roads, and the relative roles of the HSE and other regulators in any investigation. HSE has published revised guidance for inspectors which may be of interest to port authorities and users.
Issues of particular concern include overloaded vehicles or unstable loads, which can be hazardous for workers when loading/ unloading as well as a risk on the roads. Correct securing of loads is also important, to prevent injury to drivers or other workers from falling loads, and to avoid road traffic incidents. Drivers are under a legal obligation to secure loads before they leave the port and facilities should be made available to ensure that this can be done safely. HSE is undertaking additional research on these topics and more information will be made available as soon as possible. Current information and advice on vehicle and driver safety can be found on the HSE Workplace Transport website and on the work related road safety website.
There have been serious accidents involving workers being crushed between vehicles and trailers during coupling/ uncoupling, maintenance activities and due to runaways. Port workers and visiting drivers should comply with the good practice guidance on the HSE website, and available from the Institute of Road Traffic Engineers (IRTE).
At the moment 17% of all reported cases of COPD are from the docks industry. More information is needed to establish if this is a historical problem or a live one. What is known is that dusty cargoes such as coal, aggregates, grain, timber and biomass all have the potential to contribute to the problem.
Discharging of some cargoes, including timber, pipework, steel coils etc make compliance with the Work at Height Regulations difficult. Providing protection at open edges is problematic in such a dynamic situation and for work restraint can be difficult to find suitable anchorage. In many cases with pipework it should be possible to arrange for them to be pre-slung which removes the need to get close to an edge. For other cargoes it is possible to arrange unloading in such a way as to minimise the potential distance of any fall. In all situations ports should seek to apply the hierarchy of controls described in the Regulations. It is recognised there will be situations where controls will be down to a high level of training and good supervision. Transportation Section would welcome any novel solutions that individual operators may develop.
Reports have been received of two failures of personnel lifts in dock cranes. In both instances the cranes had been regularly maintained. In one incident scheduled maintenance had taken place only four days previously. The cause of the failures is at present unknown and is under investigation. In the meantime operators of dock cranes with lifts may wish to draw these incidents to the attention of their maintenance contractors