Transport and Storage Sector - Useful Health & Safety Information

Why Health &Safety is important to this sector

The accident rate in the Transport and Storage sector exceeds the figures for Construction and Agriculture, both of which are considered to be hazardous industry sectors. There have been around 60 fatalities, 5,000 seriously injured and 23,000 over three day injuries reported to the HSE over the last five years. This does not include any figures for work-related ill health such as bad backs or stress. The four most common kinds of accident that result in a fatality, often during loading or unloading or maintenance of vehicles are:

Struck by a moving vehicle
Falls from vehicles
Shifting of or falling loads
Overturning of or collapsing vehicles

The main areas where major injuries are suffered are:

Manual handling
Slips and trips
Struck by moving or falling objects
Falls from less than 2 metres

Around 66% of other injuries in this sector are from manual handling and slips and trips and clearly if you can reduce these then this would have a significant effect on reducing the overall number of injuries.

Situation where you might need Health & Safety support

Health and Safety in any industry is very much about the application of common sense and taking such actions as you can to protect people from harm whilst at work. The actions you take should be aimed at meeting your legal and moral responsibilities, whilst not posing a financial threat to the sustainability of your business. It must be remembered that Health and Safety in the Transport and Storage industry is not just about those people employed within it or those with whom you do business but your duty of care extends to contractors, customers, inspectors and the general public visiting your premises or the many millions of other road users you encounter on the public highways throughout each year.

Actions you may need to take:

Ensure you hold Employers Liability Insurance and display the certificate in a public area
Ensure you hold the appropriate level of motor vehicle insurance
Make sure you have someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties
Decide how you're going to manage health and safety within your business
Decide what could harm people and what precautions you need to take
Provide health and safety training to your workers
Display the health and safety law poster
Report certain work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences

NatWest Mentor can help you with all of these aspects – be it through auditing your current documents, liaising with and supporting your appointed Competent Person, providing 24/7 advice or providing training.

Result of doing/Not doing something

Health and safety laws will be enforced by inspectors from both the HSE and enforcement officers from your local council. Inspectors and enforcement officers are legally empowered to:

Visit workplaces without notice
Investigate accidents or complaints and inspect safety, health and welfare aspects of your business
Talk to employees and safety representatives, take photographs and samples
Receive co-operation and answers to questions.

If there is a problem, they may issue a formal notice requiring improvements or, where serious imminent danger exists, a notice that prohibits the use of a process or equipment. For the most serious breaches of health and safety law, they may prosecute a firm or an individual (or report to the Procurator Fiscal with a view to prosecution in Scotland).

NatWest Mentor can support you in ensuring you workplace is safe and complies with legislation. By helping you instil a safety culture through providing the correct documentation and working with your staff to get them confident about Risk Assessments, as well as supporting you with a 24/7 advice line, you can be confident you are in the best position to keep your workers safe.