Conference To Look At A Major Cause Of Work Place Deaths

Preventing workplace transport accidents, which claimed 66 lives last year, will be the aim of a conference run by RoSPA and the Health and Safety Executive.

'The Managing Workplace Transport Risks Conference: A Matter of Life or Death' will include briefings on current accident and enforcement trends and effective solutions to safety issues related to the use of vehicles in places of work.

A focus will be the HSE's new Route Map, which brings together details of legislation, guidance and good practice relevant to managing workplace transport risks.

Provisional figures show 52 workers and 14 members of the public were killed in accidents involving workplace transport in Britain in 2006/07. In the same year, workplace transport accidents also led to 1,677 major injuries and 4,233 other injuries requiring people to have more than three days off work.


Held on Wednesday, May 14, in the Concourse Suite at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, the conference will run alongside Safety & Health Expo.

Ian Hetherington, Chief Executive of Skills for Logistics, will be the keynote speaker.

Carol Grainger, Programme Manager for the HSE's Workplace Transport Programme, will outline accident statistics and solutions related to the main types of workplace transport accident: people being hit by vehicles; people falling from vehicles; objects falling from vehicles onto people; and vehicles toppling over.

Jayn Johnson, a Health and Safety Inspector from the HSE, will explain what she looks for in terms of workplace transport, including management and supervision, site layout, vehicle selection and maintenance, operational issues, such as tipping, and driver competence.

There will also be a presentation by the Freight Transport Association, and case studies from Menzies Distribution and MacLellan International Limited.

Roger Bibbings, Occupational Safety Adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "Workplace transport is a key feature of a huge variety of work settings, and can include everything from lorries and cars moving around a site to the use of diggers and fork-lift trucks. The need for its effective management, as well as the management of occupational road risk, therefore cuts across industry boundaries."

Full conference details, including an online booking facility, can be found at www.rospa.com/nec/. Alternatively, email vents@rospa.com or call 0121 248 2120 for more information.

(GK/JM)