Driving safety

WOULD YOU pass your driving test if you took it again today? Sure, you were skilled enough when you took lessons to pass your test, but could you have developed bad habits and become complacent in certain areas? Perhaps your awareness of risks has declined, and you no longer see the potential danger in certain situations because you have become so accustomed to them.

It is human nature to become somewhat complacent when we are confident in our abilities, but this can lead to potential issues. If this ‘risk fade’ is allowed to set in, and others observing it follow suit, the safety of the team (and everyone around them), could be compromised.

In the materials handling industry in particular, the risk attached to bad practice on a busy site where forklifts weighing upwards of 4,000kg are being operated, is extremely high. With over 1,300 serious injuries occurring in the UK every year as a result of forklift accidents, it's vital that bad habits and complacency are kept at bay.

So how do we ensure that the safe operating practices learned in training continue to be followed consistently on site?

Well, by actively implementing best practice day to day, confident and knowledgeable managers have the power to make a positive change to this ongoing statistic.

Managing forklift operations: why is this role so important?

When it comes to forklift operations, good managers can ensure safety, compliance and profitability for your business. Here’s how:

1. Managers help protect productivity and profitability: Managers committed to rectifying bad practice not only reduce the risk of accidents but costly damage, disruption and delays, too.

Even in the cases of minor bumps and scrapes, the costs soon mount up. For example, imagine a pallet of stock is dropped – something relatively inexpensive. Aside from the written off stock and replenishment cost, clean up will be required, and potentially aisle closures. This can halt operations, causing lost time and potential missed deadlines. It all adds up and impacts your bottom line. Having managers in place to combat unsafe practice before it leads to an accident helps to reduce the risk of costly issues.

Most importantly, of course, proactive managers can help to ensure safety.

2. Managers help to ensure the safety of the team: Proactive managers can help to set standards and build a safe culture within a workplace where forklift trucks are being operated. Even well-trained operators can become complacent over time, so it’s vital that regular monitoring takes place, and any bad habits are rectified before they become common practice.

Accidents involving forklift trucks can have a life-changing impact, and don’t forget, it isn’t just operators that are at risk when corners are allowed to be cut. It’s those working alongside them who are most likely to be injured should something go wrong, so it’s vital that safe operating practice is enforced, as the repercussions of an accident can be widespread.

3. Capable management is a legal requirement: Aside from benefitting your team, having proficient managers and supervisors in place helps to keep your business compliant. In fact, the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice for Rider-operated lift trucks (L117), outlines it as a requirement. L117 states that those in these roles should be able to carry out effective observation, communicate effectively with operators, recognise unsafe practice and behaviour, and maintain and promote health and safety standards. Like all ACOPs, L117 has special legal status, so following its guidance will mean you remain on the right side of the law.

What makes a good manager, in terms of MHE safety?

With regards to MHE safety, managers and supervisors must do what they can to ensure that best practice is continually followed by everyone, day in, day out.

Providing operator training is an important foundation, but by using regular monitoring and supervision, managers can ensure that the safe practices learned are maintained over time. And don’t worry, this doesn’t mean a manager needs to follow an operator around and track their every movement; regular monitoring can take many different forms. Of course, direct supervision can be a useful method, but so can studying truck telematics, CCTV footage, or checking progress against KPIs, for example.

Managers can choose any combination of monitoring methods, but the vital component to their success is a firm understanding of good and bad practice, so they know what to look for, and how to ensure safety is upheld.

Providing managers the skills and knowledge to uphold safety

To effectively oversee operations, managers and supervisors are not required to be qualified forklift operators themselves. L117 explains, “It is essential that supervisors have enough training and knowledge to recognise safe and unsafe practices. This does not mean they need full operator training, but they do need to understand the risks involved, and how to avoid or prevent them.”

To ensure these core skills are in place, there is specialist training available, designed to help those in these roles recognise what good and bad practice looks like. Our Managing Forklift Operations course ensures that managers understand the specific risks associated with MHE use and how to reduce them to meet vital requirements for safety and compliance. 

Feedback received from delivering such training to managers from large UK businesses suggests that, if implemented well, it does make a real difference in terms of operational safety and understanding (as well as lowering costs, as a result of reduced accidents and stock damage).

Indeed, providing those overseeing your operations with the relevant skills and knowledge will not only enable them to identify issues. Increased awareness of the potential consequences (as well as the benefits to be gained from safe practice) will give them the confidence to act and rectify them.

Training of this kind is time and cost-effective and, to ensure it can be easily accessed, our course is available in both face to face and e-learning formats. 

In summary, it pays to invest in developing proactive managers that pre-empt issues before accidents can occur. By doing so, you’ll help to keep your people safe, your business compliant and your operations productive. 

Stuart Taylor is managing director of Mentor FLT Training Limited. For more information, visit www.mentortraining.co.uk​

E-learning provides managers with a convenient training solution

Traditional, classroom-based courses can present challenges when organising training for managers, but e-learning options offer a flexible alternative to overcome barriers such as:

Staff availability: Freeing up managers for face-to-face training can impact operations and productivity, whereas e-learning can be done at a time and place that suits them, alleviating any worries over limiting management presence en masse or at key times. 

Location: With e-learning, there is no need to source an appropriate/central location and send managers off site to train. They simply need a suitable device and internet access, whether this is at work or home.

Time: E-learning courses can generally be completed in fewer total hours, as they are carried out at the individual’s own pace. It also allows them to dip in and out of modules around other commitments and engage with training when they are ready.

Cost: Sending learners on training courses may require expenses for food, travel and perhaps even hotels. E-learning saves on all these costs, as well as the associated administration time to arrange.

Engagement: Theoretical training content lends itself to videos and quizzes that can easily be delivered via e-learning. Courses can be split into modules, and offer interactive elements that actively engage delegates, assess knowledge, and track progress.

Integration: e-learning courses can often be obtained as licenced versions, which can be added to a business’ existing Learner Management System for consolidated records and efficient reporting.