Site traffic management risk assessment template

A site traffic management risk assessment maps where vehicles and people move, identifies where they can collide or where loads and vehicles can harm people, and records the controls and owners for each movement. The blank form below is for construction sites and other workplaces managing internal traffic. Fill it using a current site plan and observations at busy, quiet and unusual times. It is not a traffic-management design for a public road, nor a substitute for any street-works permit, signing scheme or competent highway plan.

HSE's construction-site guidance says the site must be organised so vehicles and pedestrians can move safely. Key issues include separating people from vehicles, reducing movements, turning arrangements, visibility, signs and instructions. A generic statement such as “drivers to take care” does not show how a delivery vehicle avoids the pedestrian route outside a welfare cabin. The form should lead to a layout decision, briefing and checks on the ground.

This is a risk-assessment worksheet. The risk assessment software page covers managing assessments generally. The highways sector page addresses a different, road-work context and contains product/commercial claims that must be verified. Do not make this form sound like a Chapter 8 traffic-management plan.

Start with a real movement survey

Walk the site and mark vehicle routes, pedestrian routes, crossing points, gates, reversing and unloading locations, parking, plant operating zones, emergency access and public boundaries. Check who comes at which times: employees, subcontractors, visitors, delivery drivers, waste collections and maintenance vehicles. Include the infrequent but high-risk movement, such as a skip change, crane delivery or out-of-hours collection. HSE's transport risk-assessment guidance specifically recommends building up a picture of all vehicle and pedestrian traffic rather than reviewing the busiest activity alone.

Look at the actual site, vehicle and driver together. Can the route take the vehicle's dimensions and weight? Is the ground firm and drained? Is visibility obstructed by stored material or a temporary building? Can a vehicle drive through and exit, or must it reverse? Are workers carrying items across the road? Do schoolchildren, residents or customers approach the boundary? Have other trades changed the route since the last plan? Ask drivers and pedestrians what they have seen; a drawing may miss how people actually use the site.

Copyable site traffic risk assessment form

A. Project and control details

B. Movement and interface inventory

C. Hazard and control register

Complete the actual control, named owner and evidence. Do not pre-score a blank row as “low”.

D. Agreed site rules and checks

E. Briefing, approval and review

Record who approved the layout, who briefed visiting drivers and on-site people, where the current plan is displayed, and how changes reach each shift. Record the first verification walk and any actions still open. Set a review when routes, programme, plant, workforce, deliveries, lighting, weather, ground or public access change, and after an incident or near miss.

Choose controls in a useful order

Separate people and vehicles where practicable. A physical barrier and dedicated route are more reliable than expecting every driver and pedestrian to negotiate the same space. HSE places pedestrian-vehicle separation and minimising movements among the central controls for construction traffic. If complete separation is impossible, identify the exact crossing and how it will be controlled, rather than relying on signs alone.

Reduce reversing and conflicting movements. Plan drive-through or one-way routes and suitable turning areas where the site allows. If reversing remains necessary, decide who may enter the area, what the driver can see, what communication and supervision are required, and how the area is kept clear. A banksman or spotter is not a substitute for a workable layout and must not stand in a vehicle's path. Review the arrangement when vehicle sizes or loads change.

Design the route for the vehicles using it. Width, headroom, surfaces, gradients, drainage and load-bearing capacity matter, especially on temporary or unprepared ground. HSE's temporary-workplace guidance says temporary routes should meet the same basic safety standards as prepared routes, with particular care for driver competence, safe systems and supervision. Check route changes before use; an excavation, stockpile or wet period can invalidate yesterday's map.

Manage deliveries and unloading as part of the route. Book vehicles so a gate does not become an uncontrolled queue. Give visiting drivers a usable arrival instruction and a safe waiting position. Identify where the load will be released and who keeps people out of that zone. Coordinate with the separate lifting or loading assessment where cranes, forklifts, lorry loaders or unstable loads are involved. HSE's workplace-transport overview says loading and unloading must be within the risk assessment.

Check the boundary. If a delivery affects a footway or public highway, the workplace form is only part of the decision. Traffic control, permits, road authority requirements and a competent public-road plan may be required. The live Complys construction delivery and public footway guide addresses that separate issue. Do not infer a single UK-wide pavement permit or have site staff direct live public traffic without proper authority and training.

Example: constrained refurbishment site

A refurbishment project has one gate. Morning deliveries meet workers crossing to welfare units, and a large tipper cannot turn inside the compound. The first draft plan proposes a marshal at the gate. The site team instead reschedules the tipper for a quieter window, moves the pedestrian route behind a barrier and arranges a controlled unloading area. The remaining reversing movement is assessed with a defined exclusion zone and communication method. The principal contractor briefs suppliers before dispatch, checks the barrier each shift and changes the plan when a new excavation blocks the turning area.

That example shows how the form should change the layout and movement, not just collect signatures. It does not prescribe a marshal, speed or barrier dimension for another site. Those decisions depend on the actual road, vehicle and work.

Where Complys fits

The completed assessment should remain linked to the current site layout, action owners and review history. The risk assessment software page describes general assessment records; the RAMS page covers construction task documents. Complys should not be presented here as designing a vehicle route, certifying road works or automatically approving a traffic-management plan. Verify any product feature or CTA against current implementation.

Next step: walk the site, complete the movement inventory, decide the physical layout and control actions, then brief drivers and pedestrians using the approved plan. Reassess before a changed route is opened.

Source, claim and writer-side QA register — checked 5 October 2026

Cannibalisation: no exact Complys fillable site-traffic assessment owner observed. The highways sector page is a product page and public-road focus; this worksheet is internal site/workplace traffic. Confirm repository and unpublished drafts before creating the proposed route. Product truth: no automatic traffic-design, legal certification or route approval claim. Jurisdiction: GB workplace/construction transport; public-road rules explicitly out of scope. Links/CTA: observed .co.uk risk assessment, RAMS and public-footway guide routes, subject to final canonical/implementation check. Writer-side QA: usable movement/hazard/control tables, change triggers, HSE primary source register, direct answer and example. Competent site review and independent whole-page QA remain outstanding.