October is National Safe Work Month and AMCA is driving home vehicle safety to keep people in the commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry out of harm’s way.
This article is part of a series in our campaign, Driving blind? It’s a grave choice.
If your employees need to drive for work, then it’s critical that your workplace has vehicle safety programs and policies in place to protect your workers and your business.
Vehicle safety policies, training and maintenance are important in educating your workforce about the risks and responsibilities of driving a vehicle for work.
If you work in the commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, AMCA offers a range of policy and procedure documents to help you with all your safety needs, which is available exclusively to members as part of our Health and Safety Management System.
Below is a list of our key safety policy and procedure documents:
Safe driving procedures
The Safe Vehicle Driving Procedure provides guidelines to minimise the risk of injury to workers while driving company vehicles.
The Forklift Safety Procedure is designed to minimise the danger to forklift operators and to employees who work in areas where moving forklifts are a risk to safety.
The Use of Forklift Procedure highlights basic tasks, hazards, risks, safety instructions and required protective equipment to drive a forklift.
The Use of Crane Procedure outlines basic tasks, hazards, risks, safety instructions and required protective equipment to drive a crane.
The Use of Cherry Picker Procedure highlights basic tasks, hazards, risks, safety instructions and required protective equipment to drive a cherry picker.
The Gas Cylinder Safety Procedure provides instructions to minimise the risks associated with the transporting, handling and storage of gas cylinders.
The Working Alone or Remotely Procedure outlines occupational work health and safety good practices for employees working alone or in remote locations.
The Vehicle Accident Report is for drivers who are involved in an accident in a work vehicle.
Driving fatigue procedures
The Managing Fatigue Procedure outlines the requirements for managing fatigue and is intended to reduce the risk of fatigue-related injuries and incidents in the workplace.
The Fatigue Hazard Checklist helps workplaces identify fatigue hazards and lists actions to address hazards and the people in the organisation who will implement those actions.
Vehicle maintenance procedures
The Plant and Vehicle Maintenance Procedure provides instructions for maintaining plant and fleet vehicles in the workplace.
The Forklift Maintenance Check Procedure is a guide to performing a maintenance check on a forklift.
General safety procedures
The Safety Induction Handbook for a New Worker is a comprehensive document providing safety training information for new employees.
The Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Policy is a top-level document stating a company’s commitment providing a safe and healthy workplace.
The Induction and Training Procedure outlines the methods used to ensure all workers receive the necessary training to perform their job safely.
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Introducing policies to the workplace
To introduce new policies and procedures into your workplace, be sure to first consult with all relevant stakeholders, including your employees, contractors and health and safety officers.
These procedures are generic, so it’s important to tailor them to your business requirements and make sure to define responsibilities and obligations clearly.
Dedicate the right amount of time and resources to implement new policies properly and publicise them well through print and digital copies that are easy to find in the workplace.
Provide thorough training to all staff and make sure stakeholders sign off on each policy once they understand and agree to comply with them.
Review all policies periodically to keep them up-to-date and be sure to enforce new policies once they have been rolled out.