HSE Press Release E006:04 - 13 January 2004
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a free guidance leaflet aimed specifically at helping small and medium-sized road haulage and distribution businesses tackle health and safety issues.
Produced in partnership with local authorities, professional bodies, employer and employee representatives, the 11-page leaflet is designed to alert bosses and workers to the main causes of injury and ill-health at work and to assist them in recognising the activities most likely to lead to harm.
Many incidents can be prevented by simply examining what actually goes on in the business, removing and controlling hazards as far as possible and taking the necessary managerial and supervisory steps to make sure what is supposed to happen does happen.
The leaflet sets out four major causes of fatalities in the road haulage and distribution industry. These are:
Similarly, more than seven out of ten major injuries are caused by four types of incident: slips and trips; being struck by moving or falling objects; falls from less than two metres; and manual handling. Most of these happen to drivers during loading and unloading, though many slips occur during other work.
The leaflet poses some questions to drivers and other depot or delivery site workers to get them thinking about risks they are exposed to and ways of controlling potential hazards. Readers are also reminded of the legal consequences of failing to manage risks.
Richard Turner, Chief Executive of the Freight Transport Association, said: "The FTA is fully committed to improving safety in the transport industry. Many of our member services have been introduced in order to improve safety within the industry. We fully support the production of this guidance leaflet for the road transport industry and look forward to continuing our working relationship with HSE."
Copies of 'Health and safety in road haulage' (HSE ref. INDG379), can be downloaded free from HSE's website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg379.pdf
All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office
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