Reversing Is Where People Get Hit

Sites and yards give a great deal of attention to the hazards that feel dramatic, and comparatively little to the one that hurts people most reliably: vehicles and pedestrians sharing the same ground. The most dangerous moment of all is a vehicle reversing, because the driver's view is at its worst exactly when the movement is least predictable to everyone else.

Separate first, manage second

The strongest control is to keep vehicles and people apart. Every measure after that is weaker than the one before it.

• Separate routes and entrances for vehicles and pedestrians, with barriers rather than painted lines wherever traffic is heavy.
• One-way systems and turning circles so vehicles rarely need to reverse at all. Designing out the manoeuvre removes the hazard instead of supervising it.
• Designated crossing points where people must cross, placed where drivers can see them and where a stopped vehicle does not block the route.
• Marked loading and unloading areas away from walkways, with clear standing positions for drivers who leave the cab.

Where reversing cannot be avoided

Some delivery bays will always require it, and there the controls have to be real rather than written. A banksman must be trained, wear high-visibility clothing that distinguishes them from everyone else on site, and stand where the driver can see them continuously.

The rule that matters is the one people abandon under schedule pressure: if the driver loses sight of the banksman, the vehicle stops. Not slows. Stops. Reversing cameras and proximity sensors help, but they are aids rather than substitutes, and dust, rain and a dirty lens defeat them on exactly the day you needed them.

The details that actually cause the incidents

• Blind spots at the rear and near side of large vehicles, where someone standing close is entirely invisible from the cab.
• Visiting delivery drivers who never received a site induction and do not know the routes, the speed limit, or where they may walk.
• Parking that blocks sightlines at junctions and crossing points.
• Poor lighting in yards used after dark, and low sun glare at dawn and dusk.
• Reversing alarms that everyone has stopped hearing because they sound all day.

A walk worth taking

Stand at your site entrance during a busy hour and follow the route a person on foot actually takes to the building or the work area. Not the route on the drawing — the one they take. If it passes behind delivery vehicles, crosses a loading bay, or forces people into the carriageway because something is parked on the walkway, you have found your next incident before it happens.