Stockport builders' merchants Travis Perkins have joined forces with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to help reduce the risk of customers injuring themselves in falls from vehicles.

The Workplace Transport Campaign 2007 aims to increase the standards and awareness of risks involved in falling from vehicles amongst all those involved in materials delivered to construction sites.

Travis Perkins is holding a breakfast from 7.30am for customers at its premises on Haigh Avenue on the Whitehills Industrial Estate in Stockport on Tuesday 13 November.

HSE Health and Safety Awareness Officers Lynn Morgan and Karen Nicholson will be present all day to give advice on the campaign to customers.

Travis Perkins branch manager Andy Woodier says: "Three million people in UK work with or near vehicles in UK and annually there are 2,000 people seriously injured as a result of falling from a vehicle. 90 per cent of the injuries are from low falls, ie from below head height and on average there are five people killed each year as a result of a fall from a vehicle.

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"Travis Perkins are thus delighted to support HSE in getting safety messages across to our customers to try to prevent such incidents."

HSE's Karen Nicholson says: "The estimated economic and human cost of falls from vehicles is about £36.7 million.

"The construction industry usually accounts for 20 per cent of all fatalities, 10 per cent of all major injuries and for about 15 per cent of 3-day injuries every year.

"Falls From Vehicles (FFV) accidents occur mostly when operatives are working on and loading/unloading the vehicle and getting on and off and a high proportion of construction accidents are occurring on flat bed vehicles and HGV’s, which in the construction industry are mostly our delivery vehicles.

"The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risk of falling that workers are exposed to when accessing and/or working at height on vehicles and the actions that should be taken to minimise these risks and will stress the planning for the safe unloading of goods before a site becomes active, and that responsibilities are clear.

"In all other industries it would appear that three-quarters of those injured are delivery drivers, in particular HGV drivers. However in Construction, 70 per cent of all FFV injuries occur to non-drivers, i.e. those who are involved in the unloading of delivery vehicles.

"We need to get our message across to site managers or persons who are directing the activities undertaken on the vehicles and in control of how they are carried out and those operatives who may access a vehicle to load or unload it on site."

(JM)