HSE calls on haulage industry to improve safety record
Date: 25 October 2007
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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has called on the freight haulage industry to improve its safety record.
Figures from the HSE show that the transport industry accounted for almost a third (31 per cent) of all workplace fatalities, with a large number of major injuries coming from falls from vehicles during the loading and unloading of goods.
An ongoing campaign is in place to ensure that operators "do not set themselves up for a fall".
Simple steps that people can take include regularly checking vehicles, ensuring that the procedures for loading and unloading do not involved working at height where possible, making floor surfaces anti-slip, and using equipment such as platforms to reduce the risk of falls.
The HSE has provided extensive advice and guidance at its website.
Judith Hackitt, chair of the Health and Safety Commission, said: "Every year 2,000 workers are seriously injured after falling from their vehicle.
"It is vital that those who work in the transport industry take this issue seriously. Last year four workers actually lost their lives after falling from their truck or lorry and the cost of these deaths and serious injuries to the industry is in excess of £35 million a year."
She said that haulage fleet managers had an opportunity to set "a real leadership example".
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