Workplace Transport Accidents – Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

According to the Health and Safety Executive, every year, there
are around 5,000 accidents at work involving transport in the
workplace.

The main causes can often be falling off a vehicle, being struck
or being crushed by a vehicle. Injuries involving the loading and
unloading of vehicles are all too commonplace.

Your employer has a legal obligation to ensure an employee’s
safety in the workplace. The employer also has a legal obligation
to ensure that an employee, when acting in the course of their
employment, is suitably trained and equipped to carry out the tasks
in hand. Some of the more important areas which the employer has an
obligation to address are detailed below.

Equipment

If you are having to manually handle heavy loads, have the goods
been placed into roll cages to avoid having to lift heavier items?
Is a forklift truck being used to unload the vehicle/is this
possible, or has a pump truck been supplied? The employer has a
legal obligation to ensure that the risk of injury is reduced to
the lowest possible level and to supply suitable equipment to
assist with the loading and unloading of the vehicle. If the
equipment is inadequate or defective in some way or has not given
adequate training in its use which leads to an accident then your
employer may be in breach of the legal obligations it owes you as
an employee. The employer should also ensure that suitable
equipment is supplied to enable the employee to access and egress
the vehicle.

Personal Protective Equipment

The employer has a duty to supply suitable personal protective
equipment. For example, suitable footwear is important when lifting
equipment, not just for protecting your feet from injuries, but
also to ensure that you have a proper grip. Simple, relatively
cheap items which should be supplied at a relatively modest cost
include a high-visibility vest, which will assist those who are
assisting the employee with unloading the vehicle, particularly
when there is low visibility.

Loading a Vehicle

Your employer also has an obligation to provide suitably trained
co-workers to assist with the loading and unloading of vehicles
where a load is of a particular weight or is cumbersome in nature.
We frequently see accidents where a driver has had to unload a
vehicle on their own when taking delivery goods. More often than
not, this type of accident can be avoided by adequately
risk-assessing the nature of the delivery and the goods to be
delivered and identifying goods which need to be loaded/unloaded as
a two-person lift. The nature of the loading is another important
point to consider. The load should be spread as evenly as possible.
During loading and unloading, the vehicle may become unstable if
the load is not spread evenly. The vehicle should be loaded in such
a way so as to allow safe unloading, and a vehicle should never be
overloaded as this could cause problems with the stability of the
vehicle.

The writer has over 25 years of experience of dealing with
accidents involving vehicles in the workplace, including accidents
involving the loading and unloading of HGVs and low-loaders,
forklift trucks and pump trucks.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.