The Health & Safety executive (HSE) launched a new initiative to highlight the risks of slips, trips & falls from vehicles. 3m people in the UK work on or near vehicles and the initiative hopes to raise awareness of the dangers. Falls from height don’t have to be from a great height to have an impact. Fatalities and injuries i.e. the human cost, was calculated to be over £36m in 2004/2005.

Many falls occur when vehicles are loaded or unloaded and a series of Health and Safety sheets from the HSE have been produced to provide employees and employers guidance.

If you specify delivery vehicles, oversee their maintenance or manage operations involving the loading and unloading of goods, this information may help you understand why people fall from these kinds of vehicles and how these falls can be prevented.

More information can be found on the HSE Prevention of Falls from Vehicles PDF.

Update – see our #LadderSafetyMonth pages for more up to date details on ladder safety and also our range of access equipment for transport.