The loading and securing of goods on vehicles, their transport,
and their unloading, falls under two areas of law in the UK: road
traffic legislation and workplace safety legislation.
Broadly speaking, you should:
- Make sure the load is secured to the vehicle so it can't cause
a danger or nuisance to anyone
- Risk assess the transport process and take reasonably
practicable steps to reduce risk
- Have a safe system of work for loading and unloading
vehicles
- Make sure everyone has the information and training they need
to do their job
Road traffic legislation
Regulation 40A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 introduced by the Road
Traffic Act 1991 says:
A Person is guilty of an offence if he uses, or causes or
permits another to use, a motor vehicle or trailer on a road
when:
a) the condition of the motor vehicle or trailer, or of its
accessories or equipment, or
b) the purpose for which it is used, or
c) the number of passengers carried by it, or the manner in
which they are carried, or
d) the weight, position or distribution of its load, or the
manner in which it is secured,
is such that the use of the motor vehicle or trailer
involves a danger of injury to any person.[A1]
Regulation 100 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations
1986 - SI 1986 No 1078 says:
1. A motor vehicle, every trailer drawn thereby and all
parts and accessories of such vehicle and trailer shall at all
times be in such condition … and the weight, distribution, packing
and adjustment of the load of such vehicle and trailer shall at all
times be such that no danger is caused or is likely to be caused to
any person in or on the vehicle or trailer or on a road.
2. The load carried by a motor vehicle or trailer shall at
all times be so secured, if necessary by physical restraint other
than its own weight, and be in such a position, that neither danger
nor nuisance is likely to be caused to any person or property by
reason of the load or any part thereof falling or being blown from
the vehicle or by reason of any other movement of the load or any
part thereof in relation to the vehicle.
Workplace safety legislation
The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 says:
General duties of employers to their employees.
2. (1) It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so
far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at
work of all his employees.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of an employer's
duty under the preceding subsection, the matters to which that duty
extends include in particular
- the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work
that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without
risks to health;
- arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably
practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection
with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and
substances;
- the provision of such information, instruction, training
and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health and safety at work of his
employees;
- so far as is reasonably practicable as regards any place of
work under the employer's control, the maintenance of it in a
condition that is safe and without risks to health and the
provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it
that are safe and without such risks;
- the provision and maintenance of a working environment for
his employees that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe,
without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and
arrangements for their welfare at work.
Operators also have duties to people not employed by them:
General duties of employers and self-employed to persons
other than their employees.
(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his
undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected
thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or
safety.
(2) It shall be the duty of every self-employed person to
conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is
reasonably practicable, that he and other persons (not being his
employees) who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to
risks to their health or safety.
(3) In such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty
of every employer and every self-employed person, in the prescribed
circumstances and in the prescribed manner, to give to persons (not
being his employees) who may be affected by the way in which he
conducts his undertaking the prescribed information about such
aspects of the way in which he conducts his undertaking as might
affect their health or safety.