Forklift training:Where are your blind spots?

Richard Shore, of materials handling training provider,
Mentor Training,warns of some common oversights
when arranging forklift traini

Despite recent improvements,
forklift trucks remain
statistically the most dangerous
type of transport in the workplace.

The past five years alone have seen UK
forklifts involved in more than 9,000
three-day injuries in addition to over
2,500 hospitalisations and, tragically, 50
fatalities.

Forklift trucks are large, powerful and
heavy – frequently with low-visibility
“blind spots” when laden – and, as any
health and safety professional will know,
employers have a legal duty to ensure
workers operating such potentially
hazardous equipment are properly
trained.

Regulation 9 of the Provision and Use
of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
(PUWER 98) states:
“Every employer shall ensure that all
persons who use work equipment have
received adequate training for purposes of
health and safety, including training in
the methods which may be adopted when
using the work equipment, any risks
which such use may entail and
precautions to be taken.”
This legal requirement for training
complements a powerful business case for
avoiding damage to goods, buildings and
reputation, not to mention lost time and
legal costs – plus, of course, the moral
duty to protect employees.

However in practice, there are common
oversights that occur in companies’
forklift training arrangements. Just like
with forklifts themselves, these “blind
spots” can jeopardise safety unless
addressed.

Temporary workers
A temporary operator, even if they’re only
on your premises for a matter of days,
requires the same safeguards as any
permanent employee – including the
requirement for training – under PUWER
98.
This becomes more complicated when
operators claim prior experience and
training. Section 30 of the L117 Approved
Code of Practice for Rider Operated Lift
Trucks is clear:
“Where employees claim to be trained
and experienced, employers should insist
upon evidence. Employers need to satisfy
themselves that the training, experience
and ability is in fact sufficient and relevant
to the lift trucks and handling
attachments to be used.”
Worryingly, a recent survey by the
FLTA found 85% of recruitment
advertisements for forklift operators
required a “forklift licence” – when in fact
there is no such document in the UK.

Where there is any doubt about a
potential operator’s experience with your
equipment, environment and task, it is
good practice – and good sense – to
arrange a skills assessment.

Hand pallet trucks
Because hand pallet trucks are not
“driven”, and do not have a lifting or
stacking capability, they are often
overlooked when it comes to training – or
taken too lightly by employees.

However, they are as much subject to
PUWER 98 as any other kind of
equipment, and can do permanent
damage to feet, ankles and lower legs if
used inappropriately.

Adequate cover
Don’t forget, you need sufficient trained
operators to cover holidays, unplanned
absences like sickness, sudden surges in
workload and, hopefully, future business
expansion.

A surprising number of employers train
operators, but find themselves caught out –
and under pressure to take a major risk –
because of a need to move a load at short
notice, with no qualified staff available.

Colleagues working nearby
An estimated two thirds of UK forklift
accident victims are not the operator but a
colleague on foot, in the wrong place at the
wrong time. That’s at least four pedestrians
injured or killed by forklift trucks per day.

It’s deceptively easy for an untrained
colleague to assume a forklift operator has
seen them when they’re actually in a blind
spot, or not to understand the danger
zones caused by rear-wheel steer.

For this reason, independent advice
from the FLTA strongly recommends that
all staff who work near forklift trucks are
at least trained in the risks involved and
how to avoid them.

What about you?
Another part of PUWER 98, Regulation 9,
says: “Every employer shall ensure that
any of its employees who supervises or
manages the use of work equipment has
received adequate training…”
Supervisors have been identified as a
“weak spot” in many companies’ forklift
training regimes. All too often, poor
practice goes unchecked because
managers aren’t trained to spot it.

A practical course, as short as two halfday
sessions, can make all the difference
to a manager’s ability to eliminate
potential risks – so think: have you paid
enough attention to your own training?