Port yards run very large vehicles, often with drivers who cannot see what is close to them. This guide sets out what HSE asks for, in its docks code (L148) and its workplace transport guide (HSG136), and how a yard can check its controls hold.
HSE's Safety in docks (L148) names both problems directly. Its list of typical workplace transport hazards in docks includes "reversing vehicles throughout the dock including adjacent to open quay edges" and "use of vehicles with limited visibility, including straddle carriers and reach stackers."
Its guidance is short and clear: "Avoid reversing where possible." Where "the driver's view is incomplete, and the vehicle could move in a way such that the driver can not see the path of travel of their vehicle, then a system of work should be developed to enable them to operate safely." Reversing aids "such as CCTV, proximity sensors, reversing alarms etc" should be "identified through risk assessment."
Some points carry the weight of the Approved Code of Practice. In loading areas, "vehicles should avoid manoeuvring close to unprotected quay edges", and where vehicles could run over a quay edge, "suitable barriers should be provided and maintained." On a straddle carrier grid, no one should stay in the cab of a haulage vehicle except to drive on or off, and people should have safe access "to a safe place."
The machines are big and the views are partial. HSG136 notes that some vehicles, naming "straddle carriers, large shovel loaders and some large quarry vehicles", "often have poor visibility from the cab", and that visibility "can be poor to the side or front of a vehicle as well as behind."
The work moves. Stacks grow and shrink, so the sight lines change through a shift. A safe route at the start of the day can be a blind corner by the end.
Many people on foot have a reason to be there. Lashers, checkers, engineers, and visiting drivers getting out to open doors or check seals. L148 asks for haulage drivers to "remain in a safe area while their vehicles are being loaded and unloaded", and for "additional control measures (eg a safe system of work)" where people must enter a high-risk area.
Many drivers, many employers. L148 notes that "Many different people drive in docks" and "Not all of these drivers will be familiar with the dock environment."
Every large yard machine has a blind spot. The plan is to make sure nobody is ever standing in it.
HSG136 sets out an order that applies well to a yard. Its starting point: "Many deaths and serious injuries involving vehicles at work happen during reversing, with poor visibility being the main cause."
Read through the hierarchy of controls, the first two steps change the yard. The last two help people work safely inside it.
L148 asks employers to monitor drivers' safe working practices, and for authorised drivers to be monitored so they "remain fit and competent". For the yard as a whole, a routine check might look like this:
The pedestrian segregation guide and the traffic management plan guide cover the same habits in more detail.
In October 2026, announcing a prosecution after a worker was crushed by a reversing truck, an HSE inspector said: "Almost 25 per cent of fatal workplace transport accidents in Great Britain occur while a vehicle is reversing." Our summary of workplace transport statistics gives the wider picture.
Blind spots are best treated as a design problem first. The machines will always have them. The aim is a yard where nobody needs to stand in one. More on our work with ports and harbours.
HSE's docks code (L148) lists the "use of vehicles with limited visibility, including straddle carriers and reach stackers" as a typical transport hazard in docks. Its guidance is that where a driver cannot see the path of travel, a system of work should be developed so they can operate safely, and that reversing aids should be identified through risk assessment.
Removing the need to reverse. HSE's guide HSG136 says "removing the need for reversing is the most effective" measure, and that a one-way system is one of the best ways to reduce reversing. Where reversing cannot be avoided, it recommends marked reversing areas, excluding non-essential people, visibility aids, and banksmen only as a last resort.
They help, but HSE treats them as one layer, not a solution. HSG136 notes that cameras may not cover all blind spots, need regular cleaning, and depend on the driver checking them, and that reversing alarms can be drowned out or ignored on a busy site.
Only when other ways of controlling reversing have been ruled out. HSG136 says banksmen should be used "only when all other options have been exhausted", must be trained, must stay visible to the driver at all times, and that a driver who loses sight of the banksman should stop immediately.
Not under HSE's docks code. L148's Approved Code of Practice says that, other than when driving on or off the grid, no one should remain in the cab of a haulage vehicle while it is on a straddle carrier grid, and people should have safe access to a safe place.
Every yard vehicle has a blind spot. Who walks through yours on the night shift, and how would you know? Safety Mapping: a free two-week trial on one camera.
By Hao Zheng, CEO at RoboK · Published 31 October 2026 · Last updated 31 October 2026