Site traffic management plans tackling the too fast, too furious

It’s no secret anyone operating a forklift needs a pretty decent level of spatial awareness to accurately judge distances and weights, not to mention your required path to deliver the load, but what about controlling your workmates working around you when at the controls?

Rodney Grant Chief Executive NZFIA

That’s what a traffic management plan is for – not just for you but others who may be in the ‘work trenches’ with you.

I’m starting to sound like a broken record now but, again, the Forklift Industry Association of New Zealand’s new Forklift Good Practice Guidelines (GPG) has some handy (and, just as importantly, up-to-date tips) on this.

The best way to reduce the risk of forkliftrelated injuries is to separate pedestrians and forklifts.

That’s where your traffic management plan comes into play; it is a set of rules for managing the safest and most efficient movement of traffic at a workplace.

Ensuring one has covered all the practical, workable controls – as well as all vehicles, not just forklifts – is an effective way to control and eliminate all the risks, specific to the workplace.

If that’s not feasible, then you might have to consider other risk minimisation measures.

So, what things should you keep in mind when considering and deciding on potential control measures? The GPG has a helpful the Hierarchy of Control that sets out a priority order:

Elimination (most effective control)

• e.g., consider options to eliminate the use of forklifts or the requirement for pedestrians or workers on foot to be excluded from the area

• Physical and engineered separation barriers between forklift and pedestrian areas

Substitution

• e.g., use the right type of forklift. For areas with high traffic flow or pedestrian movement, consider a forklift that affords the operator maximum visibility

Engineering/redesign

• e.g., use speed limiting devices on forklifts

• lighting

• pedestrian proximity warning systems

• proximity warning systems

• cameras with AI

• Layouts that allow re-movement of the forklift but provide safe pedestrian movement also.

Administration

• e.g., task-specific SOPs i.e., trucks only unloaded once the operator has removed all forms of load restraint, chocked the truck, removed the keys and moved to a designated area

• training for everyone including pedestrians

• warning signs

Personal protective equipment (least effective control)

• e.g., high visibility vests

As fun as it might be for some to operate forklifts, speed plays a vital role in your traffic management plan.

Known stopping distances are particularly useful when implementing speed limits, forklift routes and an overall traffic management plan. A hazard management process will determine the speed limits appropriate to a workplace.

So, consider the stability of the forklift under braking, its stopping distances and environmental factors. Some sites may elect to have laden and unladen and/or areaspecific speed limits in place.

For example, to bring a fully laden 2.5-tonne forklift going 6 kilometres per hour to a stop, it will take 3.2 metres. The GPG has a great table with other examples that you can check for further information regarding reaction and total stopping distances.

Keep in mind, that example (and those in the GPG’s table) are in optimal conditions –so, results may vary depending on where and when you’re operating your forklift.

The distance at which a forklift can stop is affected by:

• the speed at which it is travelling

• the weight of the forklift and its load

• its mechanical and tyre condition

• the road or floor surface

All of the aforementioned will not only be useful to you on a daily basis, but also to the PCBU managing a work site where there are vehicles or mobile plant operating, or whose workers carry out work at a work site where there are vehicles or mobile plant operating.

PCBUs should monitor compliance with traffic management and speed limits and ensure that they are observed and enforced. Forklifts with speed-limiting devices help to ensure that site-specific speed limits are observed.

At the end of the day, getting a job done shouldn’t come at the cost of your safety – or anyone else’s, for that matter. n