Regulation 17 is an important Regulation when it comes to the day-to-day, practical running of any workplace à Regulation 17 of The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 covers Traffic Routes!
Regulation 17 covers Organisation etc. of traffic routes:
1. Every workplace shall be organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner.
2. Traffic routes in a workplace shall be suitable for the persons or vehicles using them, sufficient in number, in suitable positions and of sufficient size.
3. Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (2), traffic routes shall not satisfy the requirements of that paragraph unless suitable measures are taken to ensure that:
* Pedestrians or, as the case may be, vehicles may use a traffic route without causing danger to the health or safety of persons at work near it;
* There is sufficient separation of any traffic route for vehicles from doors or gates or from traffic routes for pedestrians which lead onto it; and
* Where vehicles and pedestrians use the same traffic route, there is sufficient separation between them.
All traffic routes shall be suitably indicated where necessary for reasons of health or safety.
Although the above appears to discuss pedestrians and vehicles as one entity, you must remember that the safety aspects of each of them must be considered separately.
An Employer’s duty to ensure that all traffic routes are maintained and safe was considered in the case of Nichols v Beck Electronics.
In this case ‘The employee was unaware that a door had been tied shut, for safety reasons, and was injured when he tried to open it; and there was found to be a breach of Regulation 17 (2) as the route was not suitable (safe)’
When you consider the above information, it is clear that any obstruction can make a traffic route unsafe and thus unsuitable. Don’t fall into the trap of being made to consider what is ‘reasonably’ safe rather than what is safe; Under the regulations it’s our opinion that pretty much any obstruction, without clear warning, is unreasonable and unsafe!
