Manoeuvring and Site/Pedestrian Safety
Manoeuvring and Site/Pedestrian Safety tests how you share space: segregation, blind corners, reversing, speed, and the simple fact that a pedestrian will always lose the argument with three tonnes of truck.
Segregation and site rules
Pedestrian routes, barriers, crossing points and marked walkways exist to keep people out of the truck's working area. Keep to vehicle routes, obey site speed limits - often walking pace where people share the area - and never park in a walkway, in front of a fire exit or across a crossing point.
See and be seen
Make eye contact before you assume someone has seen you. At blind corners and doorways, slow to a crawl, sound the horn and look both ways - a horn is a warning, not a right of way. Use mirrors when reversing, keep the beacon and lights on, and remember the rear of the truck swings wide on a turn.
Reversing and spotters
Reverse only when you can see, or when a spotter is guiding you from a position you can both see and hear. Agree hand signals before you start, stop immediately if you lose sight of the spotter, and remember that responsibility for the safe movement stays with you.
Worked example
You are taking a load into a building through a roller door where pedestrians cross to reach a canteen. Correct sequence: stop before the doorway, sound the horn, check both directions and any mirror, creep through at walking pace, and have a colleague hold pedestrians back if the crossing is busy. If someone steps out mid-manoeuvre, stop - do not swerve.
Traps
- Assuming the horn gives you priority.
- Thinking a banksman removes your responsibility for the move.
- Reversing blind "because it's only a few metres".