Managing traffic on site
Unfortunately, incidents involving vehicles and powered mobile plant and pedestrians in the workplace still causes far too many serious injuries and deaths to workers and members of the public.
To help businesses manage these risks, this short animation highlights typical workplace onsite traffic management hazards. Importantly, the resource provides practical steps industry can take to manage these risks.
Download a copy of this film (ZIP/MP4, 86MB)
RUN TIME: 2 mins 10 sec
Female presenter
Vehicles and mobile plant on worksites can pose a serious risk to workers and members of the public. Managing traffic on site is a particular concern for the agricultural, construction, manufacturing, transport, wholesale and retail industries. So how should you manage the hazards and risks of traffic on site at your workplace?
There are a number of things you can do to ensure your workplace is safe. Wherever possible, you should eliminate this hazard by ensuring mobile plant and pedestrians are separated. You can achieve this by using physical barriers or overhead walkways to separate pedestrians from vehicle areas.
If people and vehicles must share a traffic route, use kerbs, barriers or clear markings to designate a safe walkway. If possible, have separate entries and exits for mobile plant and pedestrians. And plan to use vehicles at times when pedestrians won’t be around – such as night-time.
Female presenter
You should also have exclusion zones and signage in place to prevent workers from entering areas where mobile plant is operating.
There should be:
- speed limits, driver directions, drop-off and set-down areas, and site instructions in place
- and clear signs and road markings made with reflective paint to alert pedestrians and vehicle operators to traffic hazards in the workplace.
You could also look at replacing your current mobile plant with plant or equipment that has been designed to be safer. For example, you could replace mobile plant with other loading equipment such as conveyor systems, mobile walker stackers or pallet jacks.
Female presenter
You can also use engineering controls such as:
- warning lights
- traffic signal lights
- lighting for night works.
And use speed limiting and presence-sensing devices and reversing alarms, gates that open towards pedestrians, speed bumps and convex mirrors for blind spots.
Want to find out more? Visit our website where you can access a range of resources including guidance material, films, reports and cases studies that demonstrate what effective traffic management looks like in the workplace.