Workplace transport in the retail industry

This page contains information and guidance to help you reduce the risk of workplace transport incidents in your retail premises

What you must do

You must ensure that your employees and anyone else who could be affected by your work (such as members of the public), are kept safe from harm. You must assess the risk from vehicle movements and take reasonable precautions.

Key points to consider

Safe site

Traffic Routes - Where vehicles and pedestrians share a traffic route, there must be enough separation between them.

Driving surfaces

Every traffic route in a workplace must have a driving surface that is suitable for its purpose.

Speed

Limiting the speed that vehicles move around the workplace is an important part of controlling traffic.

Traffic management

As far as possible avoid reversing. However, when this is unavoidable make sure you have effective systems in place to control it.

Site safety

Safe driver

Induction - Employers need to ensure that all drivers and operators understand company policy and procedure on:

health and safety;
use of drugs and alcohol; and
the penalties for failing to follow instructions and safe working practices

Training

Employers must give employees adequate training to ensure health and safety:

when they join the company; and
when they are exposed to new or increased risks in the workplace

Management of contractors

Employers need to choose and assess contractors as carefully as they do when recruiting their own permanent staff. This includes:

assessing physical and mental fitness to drive
assessing competence and
checking that appropriate certificates and qualifications are valid and up to date

People's safety

Safe vehicle

Vehicle Selection - Employers must make sure that vehicles can do the job that is required of them.

Inspection, maintenance and repair

Employers must make sure that vehicles are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.

For fork lift trucks, employers must also make sure that a thorough examination has been carried out by a competent person in accordance with the requirements of Regulation 9 of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

More information on inspection, maintenance and repair

Visiting drivers

If your business does not employ drivers you will still have responsibility to ensure that you co-operate with employers of visiting drivers. This means communicating fully to co-ordinate the measures that you both need to take to meet their health and safety responsibilities