Pedestrian Safety

The greatest risk to pedestrians is from vehicles and mobile plant. There are substantial blind spots on dozers, wheeled loading shovels and excavators. Pedestrians are at risk of being run over if they are in the operator’s blind spot.

Pedestrian activity within the operational areas shall wherever possible be restricted, particularly in hours of darkness. For certain operations “no entry” zones should be identified and clearly marked by signs, fencing, cones etc. Employees should not be allowed to enter operational areas as a pedestrian unless authorised to do so. Pedestrians must wear suitable clothing with reflective strips that enhance their visibility

The operator of the quarry must ensure that pedestrians and vehicles are able to circulate safely at places of work within the quarry. Pedestrian routes must be clearly identified and be of appropriate dimensions for the number of users and the work activities. Vehicle routes must have sufficient clearance from doors, gates and routes used by pedestrians. Where vehicles and pedestrians share routes, there must be adequate safety clearance between the vehicles and the pedestrians.

Where practicable, pedestrian routes or zones should be established and designated with suitable signs, barriers, road markings etc. particularly where plant is operating or manoeuvring. Such areas would be in plant and vehicle parking areas, around static plant and around buildings particularly workshops. The Traffic Management plan should also consider pedestrian activities.

Contractors and visitors are at particular risk as they may be unfamiliar with the quarry operations, pedestrian routes and the traffic management plan. Visitors should be able to park their vehicles in safety without interacting with quarry traffic and proceed to reception using a safe route free from vehicles. Visitors should not be allowed to enter the quarries operational areas unaccompanied and it is very important that visitors are supervised and controlled from the time they enter a workplace to the time they leave. Contractors should have the transport rules fully explained to them and if necessary provided with a copy of the transport rules.

Where practicable, vehicle operators should remain in their vehicle at all times when in operational areas and this rule should be in the traffic management rules and in clearly signposted at  areas of high traffic activity.

The HSA have a Pedestrian Safety in the Workplace Information Sheet which may assist in designing workplaces to minimise risks to pedestrian