SAFETY
Pedestrians, plant, MHE and
vehicles mixing in the same
space is a recipe for disaster.
Peter Shakespeare looks
at ways to separate these
con icting ingredients
Ntweavienr sthheall meet ABy Peter Shakespeare ccording to the Health &
Safety Executive (HSE)
in the year 2019/20,
there were 7,197 injuries
to employees reported
under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries,
Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences
Regulations 2013) resulting from being
struck by a ‘moving object’. From January
to late October 2021, 25 employees in
the transport, storage, manufacturing,
wholesale and retail industries had been
killed by a moving vehicle while at work.
David Goss (pictured right), the
technical director of the UK Material
Handling Association (UKMHA), says safe
segregation of workers and MHE is vital
to the safety of the modern warehouse.
“In a fast-moving work environment
such as today’s modern warehouses,
ensuring rigorous safety protocols are
in place is essential to protect the safety
of all employees. Pedestrians working
on the warehouse oor face many
potential hazards, so management has a
responsibility to ensure that all workers
remain safe at all times.”
The safe segregation of pedestrians
from all types of workplace transport
was the theme of National Forklift Safety
Day in 2020. One key message of the
campaign was that the most e ective
way of ensuring the safe separation
of pedestrians from material handling
equipment was through the use of
physical barriers.
“Barriers are especially
valuable where there is no
raised kerb, at entrances
and across possible shortcuts
to prevent pedestrians
unintentionally stepping out
in front of vehicles,” says Goss.
“The campaign also emphasised the
importance of management conducting
a through risk assessment, and then
implementing appropriate measures.
He continues: “The Management of
Health and Safety at Work Regulations
1999 require all employers to conduct
a suitable risk assessment to protect
employees and others. To be e ective,
the assessment should be broken down
into stages so that potential hazards are
identi ed. Firstly, it needs to determine
who could be at risk from active MHE –
and how. Preventative steps then need to
be implemented to eliminate the hazards.
The ndings should be recorded and
steps put in place to ensure the plan is
articulated to sta with periodic reviews
to ensure it remains e ective.”
“For the purposes of the
risk assessment, a hazard
is de ned as anything
that could potentially
cause harm to someone.
In a warehouse or factory
environment where MHE is
operating, there could be a whole
variety of potential hazards; therefore,
the plan must be conducted by a quali ed
member of sta who has experience of
accurately assessing risk,” Goss adds.
“The risk assessment must also be
speci c to a site, its equipment and
the loads being handled. It must also
demonstrate that steps have been
taken to eliminate risk. For this, BSI PAS
13 provides invaluable advice on the
use of safety barriers as part of a tra c
28 www.operationsengineer.org.uk Winter 2021
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