In the ten-year period 2010-2019, there were 490 work-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland. Of these, 217 (44%) involved vehicles.
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) began a two-week transport operations and vehicles at work inspection and awareness campaign on Monday, 12 April. The campaign coincides with the publishing of the Work Related Vehicle Deaths 2010-2019 report, which indicates that there were 490 work-related deaths in Ireland over the ten year period and of these, 44% (217) involved vehicles. In 2020 alone, 30 people died in vehicle related incidents at work.
The inspection campaign will focus on the management of vehicle risks in the workplace such as driving for work, vehicle operations and load securing. Inspectors will be concentrating on warehousing and storage operations within transport and logistics companies, distribution and warehousing centres and manufacturing premises with a warehousing component. They will be looking to see that safety management systems, incorporating minimum occupational safety and health control measures, are in place to reduce risks relating to;
- Internal and external warehouse traffic management.
- Specific high-risk vehicle activities including goods inwards/outwards, storage operations, loading and unloading and use of forklifts and other motorised and self-propelled handling equipment.
- Racking installation, condition, maintenance and inspection.
The Work Related Vehicle Deaths 2010-2019 report, now available on the HSA website, shows that the most common type of fatal incident involved vehicles striking people on foot, some of which occurred during slow speed manoeuvres and reversing, falls from vehicles and parked vehicles rolling out of control. The report is available to download at https://www.hsa.ie/eng/publications_and_forms/publications/work_related_vehicles/work-related-vehicle-deaths-2010-2019-report.pdf
To read more on the HSA inspection campaign visit https://www.hsa.ie/eng/news_events_media/news/press_releases_2021/hsa_inspection_campaign_to_target_transport_operations_and_vehicles_at_work.html
The HSA encourage employers to avail of the free short on-line courses available on the HSA e-learning portal which can be be found at https://hsalearning.ie/. The courses aim to help employers manage work related vehicle safety. Also, freely available guidance and resources on managing priority vehicle risks can be found at www.vehiclesatwork.ie and http://www.loadsafe.ie .