Safe operation of refuse and recycling collection vehicles in a pedestrian environment
The main considerations for preventing transport-related accidents in pedestrian environments include:
- Carrying out a route risk assessment to highlights major hazards on the route(s) and indicate how they may be avoided or the risks minimised, for example, arranging collections to avoid certain times of the day in sensitive areas (eg. start, finish and lunch times for schools);
- Identify those areas where it is reasonably practicable to carry out single-sided street collection in order to minimise the risks of refuse collectors crossing the road;
- Safe reversing and use of reversing assistants. The risks associated with reversing vehicles can be reduced by:
- eliminating or reducing reversing manoeuvres wherever possible;
- devising and following safe systems of work;
- using reversing aids such as mirrors, CCTV, detectors and alarms;
- using trained reversing assistants only when the risks cannot be adequately controlled by the above; and
- monitoring work activities from time to time to ensure that the agreed system of work is being implemented
Transport associated with the sorting, processing and disposal of waste
Waste management and recycling activities such as waste transfer stations, skip hire, civic amenity sites, MRFs, scrap yards, landfill sites etc involve the use of a wide range of vehicles or mobile plant (e.g. lorries of various sizes, fork lift trucks, 360o excavators, front loading shovels, mobile cranes etc.). The risks to workers and visiting members of the public are similar to those posed by collection activities, however, as the majority of these sites are at fixed locations implementation of a good site layout and suitable management systems can significantly reduce the risks posed by vehicle movements. The key to reducing transport accidents in these environments is to ensure there is adequate segregation between pedestrians and moving transport/plant.
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