Ro-ro ramps and linkspans are where a port's busiest vehicle flow meets some of its most necessary foot traffic: lashers, marshals, drivers walking back from a trailer, crew, sometimes passengers. This guide sets out what HSE's docks code asks for, why it is harder in practice than on paper, and how to check it routinely.
HSE's Safety in docks (L148) is an Approved Code of Practice with guidance, published in 2014 when the Docks Regulations 1988 were revoked. Like other ACOPs, the Code part "has a special legal status": if you are prosecuted and did not follow it, "you will need to show that you have complied with the law in some other way or a Court will find you at fault."
Three Code paragraphs bear directly on ramps and linkspans:
L148 lists "unsegregated vehicle/pedestrian access, eg ro-ro bridges and vessel ramps" among the typical transport hazards in docks. The underlying duty is the same one that applies to any workplace: regulation 17 of the Workplace Regulations 1992 requires pedestrians and vehicles to be able to circulate safely.
Because a ramp is a narrow, shared, moving structure at the busiest point of the operation.
None of this is anyone cutting corners. It is a tight operation working to a sailing time, with people doing necessary jobs in a small space.
Separation in time is a real control. It is also the one that depends most on the clock.
Paragraph 59 offers two ways to segregate, and many ports use both.
A protected walkway keeps people physically apart from vehicles on the ramp. It is the stronger control in hierarchy of controls terms, because it does not depend on timing. The questions are practical ones: is it continuous from quay to deck, is it actually used, and does anything (a trailer overhang, stored lashing gear) make people step out of it?
Separation in time means people and vehicles never use the ramp at the same time: foot traffic first, then vehicles, or the reverse, with a clear signal between. It works when everyone knows the signal, and when the sequence still holds as the discharge runs late. Its weak point is the person who did not get the message: a driver walking back for a document, a crew member taking a shortcut.
Whichever you use, write it into the traffic management plan and agree it with the ship. L148's guidance is that where several parties work together, everyone should agree "an overall plan for the work", written down unless very simple.
Paragraph 60 asks for the ship-to-shore traffic system to be "adequately supervised and monitored". In practice, a routine check looks like the one in our pedestrian segregation guide, adapted to the ramp:
A ramp that is safe at 10am on a quiet day has been checked once. The question is the 22:40 sailing.
Port vehicle movements bring heavy plant, trailers and people on foot into the same tight spaces. Our summary of workplace transport statistics gives the wider picture.
A ramp works best treated as a shared space with a shared rule, run by ship and shore together, and checked on the sailings when it is hardest to keep. More on how we work with ports and harbours.
Only with suitable segregation. HSE's Approved Code of Practice for docks (L148, paragraph 59) says ramps used by vehicles should not also be used for pedestrian access unless vehicles and pedestrians are segregated, either by a suitable protected walkway or by making sure they do not use the ramp at the same time.
A linkspan is the movable bridge that connects the quay to a ro-ro vessel's ramp, adjusting for tide and vessel height so vehicles can drive on and off. L148 refers to "ro-ro bridges and vessel ramps" as places where unsegregated vehicle and pedestrian access is a typical hazard.
No. They were revoked in April 2014 because their duties had been replaced by equivalent requirements in more modern legislation. HSE's Safety in docks (L148) now gives the Approved Code of Practice and guidance for dock operations, alongside general duties such as the Workplace Regulations 1992.
It can be either, or both. L148 notes that in ro-ro movements control may be with shoreside management, the ship's master, or both, and that collaboration is needed "to avoid confusion and ensure that clearly defined procedures are followed". Agreeing a written plan with the ship sets out who controls what.
Yes. Port Skills and Safety publishes Safety in Ports guidance developed with HSE and the industry, including SIP010 on workplace transport in ro-ro and sto-ro operations and SIP012 on ro-ro passenger and cruise operations. L148 and HSE's ports web pages point to both.
The ramp works on paper. What does your linkspan look like in the middle of a busy discharge, or on the night sailing? 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