Passenger road transport

SIM 05/2008/04

OG status:

Fully Open

Author unit / section:

STSU

Target audience:

FOD Inspectors

• Summary
• The bus industry
• Bus regulation
• Taxis
• Work-related traffic incidents on the road
• Accident statistics
• Assaults on bus staff
• Bus stations
• School transport
• Disabled and restricted mobility issues
• Internal responsibilities and work recording
• Action by inspectors
• Cancellation of instructions

Summary

This SIM updates and replaces SIM 05/2001/16.  It gives background information on the passenger road transport industry, and details the responsibilities of regulatory and other bodies which exert control over the industry.

The bus industry

1 At the end of March 2007, the bus and coach fleet in Great Britain comprised 81,600 vehicles. Coaches made up a quarter of the fleet, at 21,900 vehicles.  Minibuses made up a further fifth, at 15,900 vehicles.

2 Bus and coach operators employed 166,300 staff. Of these 76% were platform staff (primarily drivers and conductors) and 12% were maintenance staff.

3 The principal trade association for the bus and coach industry is the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK (CPT).  They represent approximately 95% of buses and 65% of coaches on Britain’s roads although it should be remembered a few mainly small coach operators are not members. CPT and STSU Transportation Section liaise on general health and safety matters and CPT provide their members with guidance and advice on a wide range of subjects that include health and safety, coach parking and school transport vandalism.

Bus regulation

4 There are 3 principle bodies concerned with the regulation of bus transport: The Department for Transport (DfT), The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and The Traffic Commissioners.

5 Responsibility for developing road safety policy and standards rests in the main with DFT and covers:

• medical fitness policy and road worthiness testing and enforcement;
• safety standards of new vehicles and minimum performance standards for vehicles in use;
• general policy for buses and taxis, including bus operator and taxi and public hire vehicle licensing; and
• drivers’ driving hours for both large goods vehicles (LGVs) and passenger carrying vehicles (PCVs).

6 The Traffic Commissioners are independent statutory authorities appointed by the Secretary of State for each of the 7 traffic areas in Great Britain. They are concerned with the licensing of LGV and PCV operators and standards of service and operation.

7 A PCV operator’s licence is required by any company which carries passengers by road for hire or reward. The licence can apply to any number of vehicles and is issued by the traffic commissioner for the respective traffic area. The Commissioner must be satisfied that the applicant is of good repute, is of appropriate financial standing, is professionally competent, and has good enough facilities for maintaining vehicles. The Commissioner has the power to revoke the licence or to suspend it for a given time or until some defect in the operation has been corrected. The Commissioner may also reduce the number of vehicles authorised or put conditions on the licence that only let the operator use certain types of vehicle.

8 A local bus service must be registered with the Traffic Commissioner, except in London when a London local service licence or an agreement with London Transport is required. A local bus service is one where PCVs are used to carry passengers at separate fares on services with stopping places less than 15 miles apart. It could include schools and works services. The Traffic Commissioner may, in the event of failure to run a service as registered, put conditions on the PCV operator’s licence and impose a financial penalty.

9 Inspectors should consider bringing any serious breaches of health and safety legislation by a PCV operator to the attention of the VOSA Intelligence Unit.  They in turn may notify the Traffic Commissioners as this might be of interest to them when considering a licence application or renewal.  Contact details are set out in Para 10.  Alternatively inspectors may notify VOSA by e-mail: enquiries@vosa.gov.uk.  Such notifications should be headed VOSA Intelligence Unit.

10 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), a DfT agency, operates from 23 areas in Great Britain.  They have a legitimate interest in enforcing road traffic act provisions relating to the road worthiness of vehicles. General complaints about the road worthiness of vehicles belonging to specific operators should be referred to them.

11        Statutory testing of coaches and buses is carried out annually by VOSA, either at their own vehicle test centres or at designated PCV operator’s premises. They also oversee vehicle recall campaigns, undertake the initial inspection of vehicles and specialised inspections, undertake investigations of accidents and defects and carry out roadside and other spot checks. They may issue prohibition notices preventing use of a vehicle until required maintenance work has been carried out and can suspend, revoke or curtail the operator’s licence. They also advise the Traffic Commissioners in their licensing function.

12 The Police (and others, eg Highway Authorities and Traffic Commissioners) enforce road traffic legislation. The police investigate road traffic incidents as defined by the Road Traffic Act 1988 as amended. They are required to inquire into all sudden deaths and to report the circumstances to the coroner, or the procurator fiscal in Scotland.

Taxis

13 The Public Carriage Office (PCO) regulates the taxi and public hire vehicle (PHV) trade within London, while local authorities (LAs) regulate taxis and PHVs in the rest of Great Britain. PHVs are sometimes known as ‘minicabs.’ The difference between a PHV and a taxi is that a PHV is not hired on the street directly with the driver. The booking has to be made through an operator. The schedules attached to both the taxi/PHV licence and the taxi/PHV driver’s licence set out the conditions under which the vehicle and driver must operate.

14 Licence plates issued by the licensing authority for the purpose of indicating that the vehicle is a taxi/PHV, should be displayed in the approved position on the vehicle. These plates may be confiscated by the authority’s Taxi Enforcement Officer (TEO) whose job is to carry out road side checks on the vehicle’s condition and the driver’s documentation. The vehicle cannot operate as a taxi or PHV until any defects have been rectified and the plates returned and displayed on the vehicle. These vehicles are required to undergo regular road worthiness tests. They, like all other road transport, are subject to VOSA roadside checks. Complaints about these services should be referred to the TEO.

15 There are high risks associated with driving a cab and a widely held view that accidents etc to taxi drivers are under reported.  Risks to drivers include:

• robbery; there is a perception that drivers carry large sums of money,
• working late at night and early in the morning
• dealing with drunk and aggressive customers. 

16 DfT's guidance Personal Security on Public Transport provides good advice on how to manage risk.

Further information is also available on HSE’s work-related violence case study on taxi drivers.

Work-related traffic incidents on the road

17 The following relevant guidance should be followed and may be updated from time to time:

• OM 2003/103 Work-related road traffic incidents: An explanation of circumstances where HSE may have a role to play. (withdrawn)

18 It is HSE policy that HSE should not generally seek to enforce health and safety at work legislation where public and worker safety are adequately protected by more specific and detailed law enforced by another authority.

19 This policy is not, however, intended to exclude the application of health and safety legislation to all work-related road traffic incidents. Where safety cannot be adequately regulated by the enforcement of other more specific legislation, such as the Road Traffic Acts and the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1996, there may be a need to apply health and safety legislation, particularly in the case of serious management shortcomings. An instance where HSE would have a role to play would be where vehicles are manœuvering in and out of a bus station.

20 Formal enforcement action by HSE will usually be confined to significant and demonstrable failures to manage health and safety of work activities on or near the public highway by employers and the self employed.

21 HSE has a dual role of preventing further harm from occurring and instigating legal proceedings where appropriate. Care will be needed to check that action required by HSE does not conflict with other law.  HSE should not prosecute solely because road traffic offence penalties are disproportionate to the offence committed.

22 To avoid duplication of effort when dealing with road traffic incidents it is essential that inspectors liaise closely with all those enforcing authorities that may have an interest. In most instances this will be the police and where incidents involve LA-enforced premises, or employees of such premises, the LA as well. HSE should indicate their interest and the areas where they might be able to assist or would want to take action.

23 HSE inspectors must ensure that they communicate clearly any action they intend to take.

24 Where HSE might reasonably be expected by others to consider the application of health and safety legislation to a road traffic incident, it is important that they inform injured persons and/or the families of deceased persons of the action they intend to take. This should also be done when it is decided HSE does not have an enforcement role.

Accident statistics

25 Appendix 1 [PDF 85KB] sets out the accidents rates for 2005/06 and 2006/07.  The British Crime Survey 2006/07 reported that bus and coach drivers suffered the third highest estimated rates of fatal, major and over 3-day injuries reported to HSE through RIDDOR at 301 per 100,000 workers).

Assaults on bus staff

26 Bus drivers and conductors are vulnerable to assaults and robbery and HSE inspectors should ensure at visits to bus companies that the employer has assessed the risks and made arrangements to protect their employees from reasonably foreseeable violence.

27 DfT has provided information to the industry in a practical guide, Protecting Bus Crews and Personal Security on Public Transport. 

28 These provide a wide range of suggestions as to steps that can be taken to reduce the risks to bus crews and also passengers.  The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK recommends that employers should always consult with their employees and trade union representatives before introducing any new measures to protect staff.  By way of example some employees have welcomed the introduction of cab shields whilst others fear that they may accentuate a situation and act as a barrier to communication and possibly escape.

29 Additional advice and guidance is available from DfT Guidance, Get on Board: An agenda for improving personal security and HSE’s own Work-related Violence Case Study on Bus Drivers.

30 The Public Service Vehicles (Conduct of Drivers, Inspectors, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations 1990 (SI 1990 No 1020) give drivers, conductors or inspectors powers to remove, or have removed by a police constable, any passenger whose behaviour contravenes these Regulations.

Bus stations

31 Bus stations and coach parking facilities are usually provided by property developers and/or LAs rather than individual bus or coach companies. Close liaison between all interested parties will be required at the design stage to ensure safe operational features and traffic engineering design.  There should be adequate lighting by day and night, and suitable road markings and signs, and a good surface free of pot holes. 

32 The location of bus stations and the need to adopt appropriate operating practices will require inspectors to carefully balance reasonable practicability against risks to the public and bus staff.  A number of fatal and serious accidents involving pedestrians have occurred in bus stations highlighting problems in relation to pedestrian/vehicle segregation and the necessity to reverse vehicles in some bus stations.

33 Road Traffic Legislation, which is enforced by the Police, applies within bus stations as it does to any other highway and road to which the public has access.  Inspectors may find benefit in discussing proposed action to improve safety in a bus station with the local police authority where this impacts on road safety.

34 Bus stations generally follow one of two designs in principle (or sometimes a combination of both in the same bus station as demand dictates).

• The ‘drive through’ design that may have a straight or a shallow saw tooth platforms with one or sometimes more carriage ways. This layout is more suitable for high frequency urban services, particularly for buses with doors at the front left hand corner for boarding and half way along for alighting.  It is also essential for bendy or articulated buses; it has the major advantage of eliminating reversing movements considerably reducing the risk of major and fatal injury accident caused by reversing.
• In the ’drive in, reverse out’ (DIRO) design parking is at right angles or an acute angle to the platform. This layout is adopted for low frequency and longer distance services, such as National Coaches, The necessity for buses and coaches to reverse out of parking stances, introduces a high risk, which may require additional control by means of automatic access doors separating the buses from the passenger waiting area and  greater management supervision.

35 In both types of design pedestrians should be segregated from traffic movements to the greatest extent possible. Shops and other attractions may encourage pedestrians to randomly cross the areas ostensibly reserved for traffic movement. This may be overcome by the use of barriers, clear signing e.g. ‘Pedestrians Prohibited’, pedestrian deterrent paving and ground surfaces designed to discourage pedestrians. 

36 Well-defined pedestrian crossings, preferably at ground level, should be included where required and safe to do so, with adequate sight lines. Subways and bridges usually result in unauthorised pedestrian movements on bus carriage ways. Safety barriers are not designed to withstand the direct impact of a bus.

37 Speed limits, typically of 10 or 5 mph, are in place in many bus stations but field experience indicates that they are widely ignored unless there is regular supervision and monitoring by the management of the bus station and action taken against offenders. This may be further assisted by good bus station management using CCTV monitoring, speed control sensors and incident reporting.

38 Experience indicates that vehicles are usually expected to reverse unassisted. Reversing should only be carried out if it is safe to do so and a safe system of work is implemented, together with good pedestrian segregation. In practice, this can amount to the need to employ supervisors to guide buses or use reversing aids, such as mirrors and exterior CCTV. Where supervisors are provided, they should be trained and wear high visibility clothing. If reversing aids are fitted to vehicles they must be properly maintained, with a safe system which can be deployed in the event that the reversing aids fail.

39 Bus station operators may wish to consider supervising bus entrances and exits to ensure that pedestrians do not use these vehicle accesses as a short cut or unofficial route.  Any such decision should evaluate the risk of violence to staff carrying out such duties.  Road markings, signs and deterrent pavement may also be deployed.

40 Transportation Section is currently working with the industry to develop acceptable good practice guidance on bus station design and operation.  Inspectors are requested to contact the Transportation Section with any queries and before taking enforcement action on this issue.

41 You may also be interested in viewing a Good Practice Guide for Bus Station Design which was completed by Andy Whitlam of Lancashire County Council.   This includes details of a wide variety of differing practices together with some explanation of how key risks might be addressed and case studies in its appendix.  

School transport

42 Local education authorities (LEAs) are required to provide free school transport for pupils of compulsory school age (5-16 years) who attend the nearest suitable school if it is beyond statutory walking distance. This is 2 miles for pupils under 8 years of age, and 3 miles for pupils aged 8 or over. Serious deviation from the contractual arrangements can result in the bus or taxi operator losing the contract and being subjected to financial penalties where added costs are met in providing a replacement service. Complaints about these services should be forwarded to the school transport officer within the LEA.

43 Parents who complain to inspectors regarding school bus arrangements may be referred to the LA education officer responsible for the administration of school bus contracts. Typical complaints refer to:

• three children sharing 2 seats;
• no seat belts fitted; 
• supervision. There is no legal requirement for supervision. It is not provided on normal bus service routes which unaccompanied youngsters use. However, supervision may be a contractual requirement, eg double deck buses used on school runs, where the driver may not be able to see upstairs, or on buses with an open platform;
• cleanliness, unruly children and vandalism can also be a source of complaint that can be referred to the LA education officer. Contracts usually include advice for drivers and attendants in these matters.

Disabled and restricted mobility issues

44 Transportation Section has a lead role with the bus and coach industry and is in regular contact with DfT and other stakeholders, such as CPT, VOSA and the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA).  In this respect we are aware that there is a general lack of awareness by bus drivers of their duties and responsibilities under the Drivers Conduct Regulations, including responsibilities for assisting disabled passengers and wheelchair users. These regulations are not enforced by HSE but information on their application can be found at Conduct of drivers, inspectors and conductors - a guide for bus and coach staff.

45 There is a considerable amount of guidance on access for disabled passengers on the DfT website:

• Access for disabled people; and
• Buses and coaches. 

46 MHRA produce guidance on wheelchair transport, which, at the time of writing this SIM is due for revision and updating:

• DB 2001(03) Guidance on the Safe Transportation of Wheelchairs;
• DB 2003(03) Guidance on the Safe Use of Wheelchairs and Vehicle-mounted Passenger Lifts; and
• DB 2004(02) Guidance on the Stability of Wheelchairs.

47 The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) also provides advice about the transport needs of disabled people. This can be viewed at:

• Taxi/PHVs; and
• Buses

Internal responsibilities and work recording

48 Manufacturing Sector is responsible for the maintenance and repair activities relating to buses and coaches, ie the principal activity at garage premises is repair and maintenance.

49 Passenger Road Transport includes the following SIC codes:

• 60211. Intercity coach services
• 60219. Other scheduled passenger land transport not elsewhere classified (this includes activities relating to urban and sub urban transport of passengers on scheduled routes and timetables eg buses and trams)
• 60220. Taxi operation including rental of private cars with driver
• 60231. Renting of buses and coaches
• 60239. Other passenger land transport not elsewhere classified
• 63210. Other supporting transport activities such as the operation of bus stations, roads, bridges, tunnels, parking lots or garages, but not the transport of animals or freight and the operation of terminal facilities such as railway passenger and goods stations.

Action by inspectors

50 Inspectors are requested to:

• note the role of other enforcement agencies;
• note that in addition to responsibilities under Health and Safety at Work Legislation employers also have responsibilities under Road Traffic Law;
• contact the Transportation Section before taking enforcement action at bus stations;
• keep the Section informed of any significant developments relating to public transport safety and health.

51 The Section will:

• provide information, and advice, based on previous cases and from our list of contacts with other Government Departments such as the Department for Transport and its agencies;
• put you in touch with colleagues who have experienced similar cases;
• consider whether there are national implications which might benefit from trade association involvement;
• continue to work with key industry stakeholders to produce and update guidance on good practice.

Cancellation of instructions

52 Cancel and destroy SIM 05/2001/16.