Managing risks of plant pedestrian collisions – an insider’s view

I’ve worked within the Recycling and Recovery industry for almost three decades, and the last 15 years of that was as a Regional Health and Safety professional. During this time, I operated a variety of large tracked and wheeled items of mobile plant and later managing a high profile, dynamic portfolio of waste and recycling sites covering an extensive range of operations, all of which had varying degrees of pedestrian, vehicle, and mobile plant interactions.

The industry provided me with unique insights from both an operator’s perspective and a Health and Safety professional into the issues associated with pedestrians interfacing with vehicles, mobile plant, and equipment and the risk control measures required to keep pedestrians safe.

I’ve been privileged to witness first-hand the paradigm shift in positive safety culture in relation to those working with mobile plant and vehicles. There is a greater appreciation of operator’s limited visibility and effectiveness of in-cab detection technology, but alas this attitude is not present throughout all industries, and unfortunately sometimes results in life-changing personal injuries and worse.

The dangers of working around mobile plant – loading shovels

Due to their versatility, wheeled loading shovels are commonly used throughout industry, and are essential pieces of equipment for efficiently transporting and loading material. However, the sheer size of the machine, the bucket, the bucket traveling height or load being transported all significantly impair the operator’s ability to see pedestrians immediately to the front and rear.

In addition, operators’ line of sight is further restricted due to various blind spots created by the dimensions of the engine compartment and the cab pillars, as well as bars often across the windscreen. The actual site layout or poorly managed facilities can create additional blind spots which can then be further exacerbated by inadequate or significant changes in lighting levels potentially caused by traveling from inside to outside of a building or vice versa.

Restricted view from inside the cab of a loading shovel

Considering this it’s not surprising that “Poor Visibility” has been identified as a major contributing factor in accidents across the industry involving wheeled loading shovels.

Tragically in 2023/24 there were 25 workplace fatal accidents associated to individuals being struck by moving vehicles. And in the previous period (2022/23) there were 1,212 non-fatal accidents being recorded as being struck by a moving vehicle (latest figures for non fatal injuries not available yet)

These tragic accidents continue to place a significant spotlight on the design and safety of wheeled loading shovels and the need for rigorous pedestrian – vehicle segregation whilst reminding us of the dire consequences of ineffective or inadequate safety precautions.

No matter how well-trained our employees are, they can all make mistakes, make an error of judgment, or have a lapse of concentration. However, these errors can have significant and severe consequences if they occur in the workplace.

In relation to reducing the likelihood of accidents associated to the pedestrians and mobile plant there is a plethora of legislation and industry guidance available providing advice designed to help control Health and Safety risks within the facility.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations require that every workplace is to be organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate safely, consideration should also be given to critically evaluating human, environmental and task related factors to better understand behavioural influences, in doing so there is the opportunity to further reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring.

Mitigation strategies:

There will always be situations where pedestrians are present within the workplace, whether that be visitors to the facility, or employees traversing from one operational area to another. It’s at these times pedestrians are most vulnerable.

Therefore, it’s imperative that adequate hard and soft management strategies are implemented to ensure pedestrian safety is maintained E.g. (not an exhaustive list)

• Segregated and dedicated walkways wherever possible (If pedestrians and vehicles are required to share the same route, it should be wide enough to allow vehicles to pass pedestrians safely).
• Physical barriers to control direction of travel and segregate pedestrians and vehicles.
• Suitable warning signs and illumination.
• Assess mobile plant operator visibility and consider fitting additional mirrors, cameras, advanced Proximity Warning System (SiteZone Safety) etc if necessary.
• Competently trained mobile plant operators.
• Provision of banks person in circumstances when other control measures are not possible with enhanced visual communication (Stop'N'Go gloves).
• Provision of suitable and sufficient site induction emphasising pedestrian routes and pedestrian exclusion zones.
• Monitor compliance with visible leadership, supported by regular critical reviews of safety protocols.
  
  

A closer look at Proximity Warning Systems

I can personally attest to the effectiveness of the SiteZone Safety proximity warning system, that provides complete detection and assurance to both mobile plant operator and pedestrian. The ability to alert both parties with a physical and audible alert is key. As a previous machine operator, this makes sure that the pedestrian is taking responsibility to be aware around moving vehicles and not all the emphasis is put on the driver.

We were able to seamlessly dovetail the SiteZone proximity warning system into existing site safety measures and the product excelled even in the harshest of working environments without problem.

The analytical data platform is an exceptional risk management tool from which improvements can be tracked. The information contained within the platform is anonymised (based on tag ID) and supported development of a strong, positive, safety culture changing behaviours to make a safer site.

A final word

Technological advancements in mobile plant and equipment have played a pivotal role in optimising operational efficiency with in-cab supplemental vision aids available to combat the reduction in operator line of sight.

But it’s important to note that some in-cab safety visual / detection devices under certain conditions have limitations rendering them ineffective. For example, strong sunlight can be problematic making detection not possible or inaccurate or at best providing an obscured or distorted image. Other cab mounted systems are reliant on the correct placement due to restrictions of field of vision which may not see the danger or could become damaged under normal operational conditions.

What a camera can see in front of a loading shovel

It's imperative we continue to promote safety in the workplace and engage with employees, working collaboratively to identify critical failure points. If this is supported by a programme of safety monitoring and review, we can critically evaluate the effectiveness of existing control measures and drive down accidents associated to those who interface with mobile plant and vehicles.

Chris Beddoes MCGI CMIOSH AIEMA, is the Business Manager for Stop'N'Go . Stop'N'Go safety gloves improve hand signal visibility between workers and drivers, reducing the risk of collisions with reversing vehicles. You can read more about what they do here.