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PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
Page 39
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If reacting in the right way once you do have a serious accident is vital, it is clearly better to prevent it in the first place. The best first stop for anybody unclear about the rules on health and safety is the Health & Safety Executive (www.hse.gov.uk). A good place to start is by downloading the Health and Safety In Road Haulage leaflet. You can get to this by going to the right-hand side of the home page, scrolling down to 'Haulage' in the 'Your industry' box, and then clicking on the download.
The HSE breaks most haulage deaths into four categories: • Being struck by a moving vehicle • Falling loads • Falls from vehicles • Collapsing or overturned vehicles Similarly, major accidents have four major causes: • Slips and trips • Being struck by moving or falling objects • Falls from less than 2m • Manual handling Industry organisations are also good sources of help. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) offers a risk management service in which somebody visits your firm and conducts a health and safety audit, highlighting areas that may need attention. It costs from £795 (ex-VAT), and includes a fire assessment as well as a written report detailing all relevant areas of health and safety law. The RHA has already carried out more than 500 of these assessments.
Ruth Pott, RHA director of employment affairs, says she gets regular enquiries from hauliers about the risk assessment service. This suggests that hauliers are well aware they need to comply fully with the law in order both to avoid accidents and demonstrate that they have done all they can if the worst does happen.