A delivery van crossing a staff entrance, a forklift leaving a warehouse or a customer walking behind a reversing vehicle can turn an ordinary day into a life-changing incident. HSE’s provisional figures show that 24 workers in Great Britain were killed after being struck by a moving vehicle in 2025/26. For SMEs across the Tees Valley and wider North East, a workplace transport risk assessment should turn everyday vehicle movements into a controlled system—not simply record that drivers must ‘take care’. Here is what a useful assessment should cover.
Why workplace transport still needs management attention
Being struck by a moving vehicle was the second-largest category of worker fatalities in HSE’s provisional 2025/26 figures, behind falls from height. The figure shows why vehicle movement cannot be treated as background activity.
Workplace transport includes cars, vans, lorries, forklifts, mobile plant, tractors and trailers moving within a workplace. The risk is not confined to large logistics depots. A motor workshop with customer vehicles, a care provider receiving deliveries, a builders’ merchant with a yard or a small factory using one lift truck can all create dangerous points where people and vehicles meet.
What the law requires
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees and other people affected by the work. The assessment must reflect the real site, vehicles, activities and people—not a generic warehouse or yard copied from somewhere else.
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require workplace traffic routes to be organised so pedestrians and vehicles can circulate safely. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 also places broad duties on employers to protect employees and others, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Identify where contact could occur, introduce proportionate controls and ensure they are communicated, maintained and supervised. Review the assessment after significant layout, vehicle or operating changes, and when an incident or near miss questions its effectiveness.
Legislation.gov.uk: Management Regulations, regulation 3 ↗ · HSE: legislation applying to workplace transport ↗
Start by mapping what really moves
Walk the site while it is operating. Mark pedestrian and vehicle routes, entrances, parking, loading areas, blind corners and every crossing point. Observe different shifts and delivery periods; a quiet 10am inspection can miss the conflict created at shift change or during collections.
Include infrequent but foreseeable movements: skip exchanges, waste collections, contractors, maintenance vehicles, seasonal stock deliveries and customers collecting bulky goods. HSE specifically advises employers to consider delivery drivers, who may be unfamiliar with the site and particularly vulnerable.
Ask drivers and pedestrians where they feel exposed and review near misses, damaged bollards, reversing complaints and unofficial shortcuts. These are early warnings. A marked-up site plan often reveals the problem faster than general wording.
Separate people and vehicles before relying on behaviour
Physical separation is usually stronger than painted lines, warning signs or high-visibility clothing alone. Where reasonably practicable, provide distinct pedestrian routes protected by barriers or bollards, clearly located crossing points, safe access from parking and a pedestrian entrance that does not open into manoeuvring space.
At a Stockton vehicle workshop, the practical fix might be a barrier-protected path from reception to the customer parking area, with vehicle keys controlled before movement. At a Gateshead warehouse, it might mean removing a pedestrian shortcut through the loading yard and creating a protected route to the welfare facilities.
Where routes must cross, make the crossing visible, maintain sight lines and lighting, and consider gates that direct pedestrians to face approaching traffic. Painted walkways can define arrangements, but paint cannot stop a vehicle. Signs and rules should support a safe layout, not compensate for an avoidable conflict.
HSE: separating pedestrians and vehicles ↗ · Related guide: five signs risk assessments are not reaching the workplace →
Arrange a workplace transport risk assessment.
HR + SAFETY can inspect your yard, warehouse, workshop or loading arrangements and provide a prioritised plan covering routes, segregation, reversing, deliveries and management controls.
Discuss a workplace transport assessmentRemove avoidable reversing
The first question should be whether reversing can be eliminated or reduced. A one-way route, drive-through loading position, turning area or revised parking layout may allow vehicles to leave forwards. Where reversing remains necessary, shorten the distance, keep non-essential people out of the area and provide adequate space, visibility and lighting.
Reversing cameras, mirrors and audible alarms may assist, but no single device makes an unsafe layout safe. Alarms rely on pedestrians hearing and responding, and regular site noise can make them part of the background.
A banksman is not the automatic answer. HSE says a banksman or signaller should be considered only where there is no other way to control the reversing risk. If one is necessary, they must be competent, visible, positioned safely and use agreed signals. The driver must stop immediately if visual contact is lost.
HSE: controlling vehicle movements and reversing ↗ · HSE: vehicle handling and one-way systems ↗
Control deliveries and visiting drivers
The site operator and the delivery company need to cooperate. Before arrival, provide useful information on access, vehicle restrictions, booking times, parking, reversing rules, loading arrangements and where the driver must report. On arrival, instructions should be short, clear and understandable to the person receiving them.
Keep people who are not involved away from loading and unloading areas. Decide who controls the activity, where the visiting driver waits and when responsibility passes between driver and site staff. A designated safe waiting area is often better than telling a driver to remain in the cab regardless of the task.
For a small Darlington manufacturer or Northumberland wholesaler, timed deliveries may be a low-cost way to avoid vehicles arriving during shift changes or customer collections. The control must match the actual conflict, not simply add paperwork.
Check the vehicle, the driver and day-to-day supervision
Vehicles and mobile work equipment must be suitable, maintained and checked. Pay particular attention to brakes, steering, tyres, lights, mirrors, visibility aids, restraints and any safety device relevant to the vehicle. Defects need a clear reporting and isolation process—not a note left for the next shift.
Drivers must be competent for the equipment and conditions. A public-road driving licence does not by itself demonstrate competence to operate every type of workplace vehicle or lift truck. Provide suitable training, authorisation, refresher arrangements and supervision, including for temporary workers and contractors where relevant.
Site rules must be enforced consistently. If managers routinely walk through vehicle-only zones, tolerate blocked walkways or allow rushed unloading, the written assessment will not control the risk. Monitor the layout and behaviour, investigate near misses and act when conditions change.
Workplace transport assessment: eight decision points
Record who owns each improvement and when it will be completed. Deal first with the points where a vehicle could strike or trap somebody; cosmetic improvements can wait. Then confirm the new arrangement with workers, contractors and regular delivery companies, and check it still works during the busiest part of the day.
- Can pedestrians and vehicles be physically separated for the whole journey?
- Can a one-way route or turning area eliminate reversing?
- Are crossings unavoidable, visible, well lit and properly controlled?
- Do parking arrangements give people a safe route into the building?
- Are loading areas large enough, controlled and free from non-essential people?
- Do visiting drivers receive site-specific information before or on arrival?
- Are vehicles suitable, maintained and removed from use when safety-critical defects arise?
- Are drivers competent, authorised and supervised—and do managers enforce the same rules?
A useful workplace transport risk assessment makes the safe route obvious and the unsafe movement difficult. Map the real activity, separate people and vehicles, remove avoidable reversing, control deliveries and verify that the arrangements are followed—not merely written down.
This guide provides general information for UK employers. It is not legal advice and should not replace advice based on the facts of a specific matter.