A dumper that goes over a tip edge or into a trench can crush the driver, and afterwards the question is who was trained and assessed to drive it. PHW trains and assesses your drivers on your own dumper, on your own site, for site dumpers up to 6 tonnes payload, and gives you the records to show a main contractor or an inspector.
Forward tipping site dumpers up to 6 tonnes payload
Theory and practical assessment on your own dumper, on your own site. The practical is marked on what a driver actually does: the pre-use check including the roll-over protective structure, seat belt, brakes, steering, hydraulics and tyres; being loaded by an excavator with the load spread safely; travelling laden and unladen on gradients, rough and soft ground; reversing with all-round observation and a marshal where the view is restricted; approaching and tipping at a tip point with stop blocks and a safe distance from the edge; dealing with a load that will not discharge; and parking, shutdown and the checks afterwards.
Some answers are safety-critical and must be right whatever the overall score: seat belt use with the roll-over protection, never travelling across a slope side-on, stop blocks and a safe distance from the tip edge, load distribution within rated capacity, and reversing under observation.
The duty to train and assess competence sits with the employer, under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 section 2(2)(c) and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) regulation 9. PHW gives you the evidence for that decision.
The controls that matter are the roll-over protective structure and the seat belt. Most fatal injuries involving dumpers are caused by overturning, with the driver crushed.
On a construction site, regulation 27 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 covers traffic routes and keeping pedestrians and vehicles apart. Regulation 28 covers vehicles, including measures to stop a dumper falling into an excavation or running over the edge of an earthwork. HSE advises wheel stops set a safe distance back from the edge. HSE guidance HSG144, The safe use of vehicles on construction sites, sets out how.
In other workplaces, such as a plant hire yard, regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 covers traffic routes.
The employer decides who is authorised to drive each dumper and keeps that decision on file. The certificate, unit credit, theory and practical records and site evidence statement are the evidence behind it.
Up to four of your people assessed for competence in one day, on your own site and machines, with minimum downtime. Plus a written safe-system pack for each topic. PHW works nationally: tell us how many drivers, the dumper and the site postcode, and we will come back with a quote and dates. PHW has certificated thousands of candidates nationwide, for multinationals and small firms alike.
HSE prosecutions in this line of work.
£20,000 + £4,824 costs · 2026-07-14
A dumper truck was driven into an unprotected excavation and overturned after the company had told workers not to wear seat belts (the driver was thrown out and suffered crushing leg injuries).
Read the case →