Posted By Debbie S Can anyone point in the right direction for information on opening/closing curtains on HGV Vehicles. We have a SWP and risk assessment / manual handling assessment for this but one of our drivers is refusing to do it on his own as he says its against the law!! Our SWP states firm footing, check ground around you, pull and gather the curtains towards you, in high winds wear hard hats and where possible only have half the curtain drawn open for loading and unlaoding. All this is demonstrated at induction level and SWP given to employees. Have checked Workplace transport Safety but this only gives guidance on sheeting.

Posted By DaveW Your source of course being: Competent assessment of risk.

Posted By Adrian Clifton Debbie In a former life the risk was reduced by opening one curtain, carry out the loading/unloading and then securing the curtain before doing the same on the opposite side. This prevented the through-draft reducing the ammount of curtain movement during opening/closing. Once opened the curtain should be secured by the curtain hooks/ratchets. Our drivers were issued with safety gloves for use when opening/closing curtains, safety glasses for windy conditions and were always told that this procedure was their responsibility. Hope this helps Adrian

Posted By Steve Clark Debbie, please contact me steve.clark@kuehne-nagel.com or stephen.clark@phyzix.co.uk and i will give you some advice on curtains. Steve Clark CMIOSH R&D SG: Chair Transport & Distribution Cluster Group