Special Topics in Safety Management

ATV Safety at Work: Preventing Deadly Accidents

Work-related ATV injuries are on the rise. Forty-one workers were killed using ATVs in one recent year.

According to OSHA, the primary reasons for All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) accidents in work situations involve:

  • Unbalanced loads and loads in excess of the ATV’s specified limits (especially overloading the rear cargo rack)
  • Operating at excessive speeds for the terrain/operation
  • Operating ATVs on paved roads
  • Not wearing a protective helmet
  • Insufficient or no training
  • Carrying passengers

Accident Prevention

The following guidelines will help reduce the risk of injury to employee operators of ATVs:

  • Provide instruction and hands-on training on safe handling and operation of ATVs. Ensure that employees are competent in operating their specific ATV under the variety of conditions in which they will be driving. The major ATV manufacturers and distributors provide free hands-on training to purchasers of new ATVs and can provide additional training at a reasonable fee. The ATV Safety Institute (www.svia.org) also offers ATV classes that may be of assistance. 
  • Ensure that all likely ATV drivers have reviewed and understand the operator’s manual.
  • Ensure that all manufacturer’s warnings are followed and that drivers review and understand them.
  • Do not permit ATV drivers to carry passengers.

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  • Ensure that a pre-ride inspection of the ATV is performed. 
  • Ensure that drivers wear proper helmets and boots. Where conditions require, ensure the use of goggles, gloves, and other safety clothing.
  • Establish policies stating where ATV use is prohibited, such as on paved or public roads and in areas with high vehicular or heavy equipment traffic.
  • Ensure that employees drive at appropriate speeds to allow for avoidance of potential hazards and the speed is appropriate for the type of terrain (e.g., mud, snow, ditches, gravel, etc.).
  • Ensure that employees and all contractors using ATVs on your worksite are aware of any site-specific hazards, such as excavations, trenches, and areas where ATV use is prohibited. 
  • Establish a maintenance program for all ATVs that meets the manufacturer’s recommendations to ensure proper ATV performance. 
  • Ensure that employees only haul items on the ATV in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications and never exceed the weight limit.
  • Ensure loads are evenly distributed. 
  • Do not allow modification of ATVs without approval from the manufacturer.
  • Monitor manufacturer’s recalls and ensure prompt action when a recall is issued for your ATV(s).

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Create a Safer Workplace

No matter what job employees perform or what type of conditions they work in, training is the key to safety and accident prevention.

BLR’s Safety Meetings Library provides the perfect materials for conducting frequent and engaging training on a broad range of safety and health issues. This cost-effective resource provides the safety meeting content, as well as supporting handouts, quizzes, posters, and safety slogans.

All told, the CD provides you with more than 400 ready-to-train meetings on more than 100 key safety topics—a shrewd investment in this time of tight safety budgets. In addition to the meetings’ supplemental quizzes and handouts, you also get relevant regulations (OSHA’s CFR 29), a listing of the most common safety violations cited by OSHA, and case studies of actual OSHA cases and their outcomes.

Safety Meetings Library lets you choose from a variety of training approaches, including:

  • Mandatory—Sessions that are OSHA-required
  • Comprehensive—Sessions with broadest coverage of a topic
  • 7-Minute—Short, simple, targeted sessions to fit tight schedules
  • Initial—A session used as introductory training on a topic
  • Refresher—Sessions that follow up on or reinforce previous training
  • Tool Box Talk—More informal reinforcement of a topic
  • PowerPoint®—Graphic presentations for comprehensive initial or refresher training
  • Hands-on—A session in which there are training activities
  • Spanish—Including Spanish language handouts and quizzes coordinated with English sessions

You can get a preview of the program by using the links below. But for the best look, we suggest a no-cost, no-obligation trial. Just let us know and we’ll arrange it for you.

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