Guidance

Safety railings on HGVs: road traffic legislation

Published 1 July 2010

To comply with the health and safety legislation, certain goods vehicles may need to be equipped with safety railings to prevent either drivers or loaders from falling when, for example, vehicles are being loaded or unloaded.

Whilst safety railings may be required in order to comply with the health and safety legislation, this does not override the requirement to comply with road traffic legislation.

In particular, for any vehicle to be used on the public roads in Great Britain (GB), it must comply with the applicable construction regulations. Primarily these are the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended) and the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 (as amended) unless specifically exempted by an order issued under the provisions of Section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (such as the Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) Order 2003).

The GB construction regulations set out the maximum dimensions permitted by vehicles used in GB and concur with the requirements of relevant European legislation which are set out in Directives 96/53/EC and 97/27/EC.

Vehicles operating under the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986

Regulation 8 of the Construction and Use (C&U) regulations 1986 (as amended) restricts the overall width of most goods vehicles to a maximum of 2.55m (with no positive tolerances). ‘Overall width’ is defined in regulation 3(2) of C&U and whilst the definition allows certain items to not be included when determining a vehicles overall width (such as mirrors, lamps and reflectors) safety railings are not listed as an exempt item ^{[footnote 1]}. Therefore, the width of the vehicle, including any safety railings may not exceed the maximum width for the class of vehicle and this, in most cases, will be 2.55m.

On occasions where vehicles are equipped with safety railings and the width of the vehicle (including any safety railings) does not exceed the maximum width permitted by regulation 8, consideration may need to be given to whether regulation 100(1) is being observed. Regulation 100(1) requires:

A motor vehicle, every trailer drawn thereby, and all parts and accessories of such vehicle shall at all times be in such condition, and the number of passengers carried, and the manner in which any passengers are carried in or on a vehicle; and the weight, distribution, packing and adjustment of the load of a vehicle shall at all times be such that no danger is caused, or is likely to be caused, to any person in or on a vehicle or trailer or on a road.”

Therefore, should safety railings project beyond the plan of the vehicle, consideration should be given as to whether such devices could pose a danger to other road users, including those that are considered vulnerable, and whether any projecting parts should be guarded.

Vehicles operating under orders made under section 44 of the Road Traffic Act

Goods vehicles operating under orders made under section 44 of the Road Traffic Act will be doing so for special purposes and it is therefore necessary, on most occasions, to exempt such vehicles from the maximum overall width restrictions set out in regulation 8 of the C&U regulations. For example, regulation 8 does not apply to abnormal indivisible load vehicles operated under the Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) Order 2003. Whilst regulation 8 may not apply, C&U regulation 100(1) does apply, meaning that the guidance provided in section 1 of this information sheet relating to this regulation will need to be considered.

Where to obtain the Road Vehicle (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986

The C&U regulations are not available on the internet and have been amended many times which makes it difficult to piece together the latest form of the regulations. However these regulations are available in a consolidated format in most city reference libraries, from companies who publish law. One example is Sweet and Maxwell who publish the ‘The Encyclopaedia of Road Traffic Law and Practice’. This publication is continually updated and contains a full version of the above mentioned regulations in consolidated format. Other possible suppliers include InterRegs.

Alternatively, it is possible to purchase printed copies of the statutory instruments that comprise the regulations from the TSO at the following address:

The Stationery Office
TSO Orders/Post Cash Dept
PO Box 29
Norwich
NR3 1GN

Tel: 0870 600 5522
Fax: 0870 600 5533

e-mail: customer.services@tso.co.uk
Online ordering: www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp
Customer service: www.tso.co.uk/contact/customerservices/

The Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) Order 2003

The Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) Order 2003 can be on www.legislation.gov.uk.

1. An exemption to allow the upper decks of specialist car transporters to be equipped with safety railings is, however, currently being considered. The intention would be to allow such vehicles, at heights of more than 2 metres, to be fitted with safety railings that do not extend more than 75mm from either side of the load platform. ↩