Haulage Companies and Top Tips for Safety

Haulage companies, just like every other employer, need to be aware of basic workplace safety. Too many people in the UK are injured every year in occupational accidents, and many of those were easily avoidable.

Here are some top workplace safety tips for haulage companies – although please note this does NOT cover driving and associated road safety use.

A surprising number of drivers are injured every year due to accidentally falling out of their cabs. That may sound comical but the consequences can be anything but funny. This is sometimes attributable to sheer carelessness, but at other times due to clutter around the cab or trying to get in or out whilst talking on a mobile at the same time. Slippery shoes can also be an issue here. Just be careful and always have both hands free.

Whether you are a driver or working in the loading bay/warehouse, make sure that you use all recommended safety equipment, including steel toe capped boots, gloves and, where appropriate, eye protection.

Keep your vehicles and all floor spaces around your bay areas absolutely spotless and free of detritus. Another common cause of injury arises from either slipping on oil or tripping over dunnage that’s been left lying around.

Avoid doing distracting things such as talking on mobiles or looking up the Internet on your smart phone or tablet when you are around moving vehicles in a loading bay, vehicle park or inside a warehouse. An appalling number of people are injured every year, due to being hit by forklift trucks or reversing vehicles. In theory this should be impossible in the days of audible warnings, but such accidents can happen if your attention is drawn to something else.

Don’t operate or ask your personnel to operate forklift trucks unless they are qualified to do so. They could be issues both with the law and your insurance cover if you do so, but accidents arising from forklift trucks being driven by inexperienced people are surprisingly common.

Make sure you do not crawl around under a load unless you are 100% sure it is totally and professionally secured.

Insist upon all of your employees undergoing a mandatory safety awareness course when they first join your organisation. In addition, you may wish to consider having a policy that prohibits office-based personnel from entering into warehouses and loading bays unless they are accompanied by someone who works in the area and have permission.

Smoking should be positively and firmly banned from loading bays and vehicle parking or manoeuvring areas. Spillages of fuel and other combustibles can be an issue even in circumstances where they have been cleaned up to some extent.

Just like the cab issue, even in haulage companies people can be surprisingly prone to falling off elevated loading bays. Make sure the edge is clearly highlighted with fluorescent tape and consider using barriers that are only removed when a vehicle is parked directly against the bay - meaning it’s impossible to tumble headfirst over the edge.

Finally, make sure that you have an excellent first aid facility on-site and staff that are suitably trained in its use. Having a box full of items that you don’t recognise in a crisis where a colleague has been injured is not going to be of much use to you or the person concerned. Note that in some cases this might be a legal requirement.

If you work in haulage companies, these basic tips may help to keep you and your colleagues that bit safer.