Safe operation of vehicles in a pedestrian environment
Every year, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is notified of often-fatal incidents involving pedestrians being struck, or run over, by refuse collection or similar vehicles. Ensuring pedestrian safety during refuse collection, street cleaning, or similar activities should be a key objective of those in charge of the routes.
Pedestrianised areas, narrow streets, and locations with a high footfall (such as near a school or train or bus station) should be considered as part of the management of the vehicle route in advance.
The main considerations for preventing transport-related accidents in pedestrian environments include:
- carrying out a route risk assessment to highlight major hazards on the route(s) and indicate how they may be avoided or the risks minimised, for example arranging collections to avoid certain times of the day in sensitive areas (such as start, finish and lunch times for schools)
- identifying areas where it is reasonably practicable to carry out single-sided street collection in order to minimise the risks of refuse collectors crossing the road
- safe reversing and use of reversing assistants. The risks associated with reversing vehicles can be reduced by:
- eliminating or reducing reversing manoeuvres wherever possible
- devising and following safe systems of work
- using reversing aids such as mirrors, CCTV, detectors and alarms
- using trained reversing assistants only when the risks cannot be adequately controlled by the previous measures
- monitoring work activities from time to time to ensure that the agreed system of work is being implemented
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Transport associated with sorting, processing and disposal
Waste management and recycling activities involve the use of a wide range of vehicles or mobile plant (lorries of various sizes, fork lift trucks, 360-degree excavators, front loading shovels, mobile cranes etc).
The risks to workers and visiting members of the public are similar to those posed by collection activities. However, as the majority of these sites are at fixed locations, implementing a good site layout and suitable management systems can significantly reduce the risks posed by vehicle movements.
The key to reducing transport accidents in these environments is to ensure there is adequate segregation between pedestrians and moving transport/plant.
Hand sorting with vehicle assistance
Hand retrieval of valuable waste or contaminants from general waste with mobile plant assistance is also known as totting, tatting, or floor picking. Mechanical shovels, grabs or similar mobile plant are used to expose items from the mixed waste for hand sorting.
Due to workers and vehicles being in close proximity, this is a high-risk activity and should be subject to a robust risk assessment. Several fatalities have occurred when pedestrian totters have been struck by manoeuvring plant or vehicles because effective vehicle/pedestrian segregation has not been achieved.
Self-audit totting checklist
You may find the following checklist useful for your premises.
Safe site
- Is pre-sorting used, so far as is reasonably practicable, to eliminate the need for hand picking in association with vehicles?
- Are sorting areas well lit?
- Are non-essential personnel effectively excluded from areas in which mechanical shovels operate?
- Are non-essential vehicles effectively excluded from areas in which mechanical shovel and pickers operate?
- Is there effective segregation of pedestrians and tipping vehicles?
- Are safe, segregated and protected zones established for totters to withdraw to before mechanical shovel approaches stockpile?
Safe vehicle/driver
- Is effective vision to the sides, front and rear of the vehicle visibility provided?
- Is effective vision to the sides, front and rear of the vehicle maintained (with mirrors and other aides in working order)?
- Can the driver see that totters are in a safe position before approaching the stockpile?
- Are drivers adequately trained and competent to operate vehicle safely?
- Does the driver clearly understand the safe system of work?
- Is there clear communication between totters and driver?
Safe system of work
- Is there operation of a safe system of work during hand picking and vehicle turning of the stockpile?
- Do totters (including casual staff) have a clear understanding of the safe system of work?
- Do totters wear high-visibility clothing at all times?
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WISH guidance on hand sorting of recyclables with vehicle assistance
Preventing 'runaway' skip loader incidents
There have been a number of incidents where conventional skip loaders have 'runaway' when lifting skips on slopes.
Where lorries are fitted with stabiliser legs at the rear of the lifting frame, the rear wheels could potentially be raised off the ground during lifting – negating the effect of rear wheel braking. If the brakes are not applied on the front wheels, the lorry can run away on the free-moving front wheels and the stabiliser legs (if fitted with roller wheels).
You can reduce the risk of runaways when buying new skip loaders by:
- ensuring all wheel braking is fitted. Most lorry manufacturers offer all-wheel braking on the chassis of vehicles suitable for converting to skip loaders
- if this is not possible, buying all-wheel braking on a new vehicle, and fitting flat plates to stabiliser legs instead of rollers
On older vehicles you should:
- fit all-wheel braking retrospectively from specialist companies (the converted vehicle must conform with all the current construction and use regulations and it must be type approved by application to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency or equivalent)
- if this is not possible, fit flat plates to the stabiliser legs
Use of chocks should only be considered in exceptional circumstances and only if they can be used effectively. Their effectiveness depends upon factors such as ground conditions, slope, surface friction, vehicle surge, operator training/competence and supervision and monitoring.
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Training for operating vehicles and plant on a waste site
The training requirements for drivers of plant, such as shovel loaders, excavators, forklift trucks, or telehandlers, in a waste and recycling setting are no different to other industry sectors. Driver competence is judged on the basis of:
- experience
- recognised formal training (either delivered in-house or externally)
- testing of knowledge and ability
No one should be allowed to drive (operate) a vehicle unless their employer has ensured they are competent to do so. The employer should not authorise a driver unless the driver has received adequate training and the employer is satisfied that the driver is competent to operate the shovel loader.
Certificates of training from recognised training schemes help demonstrate competence. But employers are perfectly entitled to devise and operate their own in-house training schemes.
While employers may operate their own in-house training schemes, they should have similar content to the more formal training courses that are available. They may also find it useful to have the courses delivered by an accredited training provider.