Vehicle Banksman Training: Keeping People Clear of Reversing Lorries

Vehicle banksman training teaches you to guide lorries, vans and dumpers when the driver's view is blocked. Most of that work is reversing. You keep the area behind the vehicle clear of people, stay where the driver can see you, and stop the move the moment you lose sight of each other. The law can put the duty to warn people on you, the driver or both, so good training covers both sides.

Why reversing is most of the job

Reversing is where people get killed. HSE's reversing guidance, last updated in May 2021, says reversing accounts for nearly a quarter of all deaths involving workplace transport.

HSG144, HSE's guide to vehicles on construction sites, put the construction share higher. It said reversing caused a third of the industry's fatal transport accidents, an average of five deaths a year. That's a 2009 figure, and HSE says the guide is under review.

HSE's first answer isn't a banksman. It wants reversing designed out, with one-way systems, turning areas and drive-through loading. Its page on banksmen says a banksman guiding a reversing vehicle must be "trained and authorised". It adds that banksmen "should only be used in circumstances where other control measures are not possible".

So you're the control a site uses when the layout can't remove the reversing. That's why the training is about keeping people out and stopping the vehicle.

What a vehicle banksman does on a reversing move

Before the vehicle moves, check the reversing area is marked and empty. Look for an open pit or the edge of an embankment a wheel could go over. CDM 2015 expects sites to stop vehicles going into either.

Then talk to the driver. Agree that they stop at once if they lose sight of you, which HSE says every driver should know.

During the move, stand to one side, out of the vehicle's path, where the driver can see you. HSG144 warns against standing directly behind a reversing vehicle. Its checklist for signallers keeps the rest simple. If you can't see the driver, or the driver can't see you, stop the vehicle.

While you're guiding, that's your only job. The 1996 signals regulations limit a signaller's duties to directing the move and keeping nearby workers safe. The delivery note and your phone can wait. Keep watching for anyone walking into the area, and warn them off.

Exclusion zones: keeping people on foot away from vehicles

The law starts with layout. Regulation 27 of CDM 2015, "Traffic routes", says a site must be organised so people on foot and vehicles can move without risk, so far as reasonably practicable. It asks for enough separation between the two, and HSE's traffic management guidance says poor separation is behind most construction transport accidents. Where a vehicle gate isn't safe to walk through, there must be a marked pedestrian door right beside it, kept clear.

The exclusion zone you guard is the reversing area. HSG144 says it should keep pedestrians out and have stops or buffers that show the driver where to halt. A barrier does that job all day. You do it for one move at a time. HSG144 also suggests a holding area for lorries by the site entrance, where a delivery can wait or be turned away.

Talking to the driver: signals and radios

The standard hand signals in Great Britain come from the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996. The banksman vs traffic marshal guide goes through each one, and why the job has two names.

Whatever code the site uses, agree it with each driver before the first move. HSE's reversing page asks for "a clear, agreed system of signalling".

Radios help where hand signals are hard to see, and HSE's reversing guidance suggests considering them.

If you can't watch the whole manoeuvre from one safe spot, the 1996 Regulations say extra signallers should be used. Agree which of you the driver follows, so two people aren't signalling at once.

The driver's duties and the banksman's

Using a banksman doesn't hand all the responsibility to one person. Regulation 28 of CDM 2015, "Vehicles", says that when a moving vehicle could hurt someone, the warning can fall to the driver, the person directing them, or both.

The driver	The banksman
Checks behind before reversing	Makes sure the driver understands the signals before the move
Gets out of the cab and looks if they can't see behind	Stands where the driver can see them, never directly behind
Stops at once if they lose sight of the banksman	Stops the move if they lose sight of the driver
Drives safely for the conditions	Keeps people on foot out of the reversing area

Duties from HSE's reversing guidance, HSG144 and CDM 2015, accurate as of October 2026.

You can stop the move, but the driver is still in charge of the vehicle and still has to drive it safely.

Above both of you sits the site. HSG144 puts the main duty to manage transport risk on the principal contractor. Every employer has to select, train and supervise its drivers and signallers.

What vehicle banksman training should cover, and where it stops

HSE wants banksmen trained and authorised. Under HSG144, the authorising comes from site management. A course gives you the training. The site gives you the authorisation, plus its own routes and rules.

CDM 2015 doesn't mention banksmen by name, and no health and safety regulation names a banksman ticket. What counts as enough training is up to the site. Some ask for a scheme card, and the traffic marshal guide covers which tickets sites accept.

Excavators bring their own hazards, covered in excavator banksman training. And once a lorry leaves through the gate, the public road has its own rules, set out in public highway banksman training.

Before your first shift, ask the site manager where you'll stand, which signals the site uses and whether you're authorised. For the core skills, our traffic marshal and banksman course, taken online, teaches guiding vehicles and machinery, hand signals, risk assessment and UK health and safety regulation.

Frequently asked questions