Is Your Forklift Safety up to Scratch

Every day in the UK there’s an average of four forklift truck accidents, and with many of these resulting in a trip to the hospital it’s essential that, as a business owner, you ensure your team are all up to date with their forklift training and have a clear understanding of their responsibilities as forklift truck operatives.

Following a two year decline in accidents, the latest figures from the HSE have shown a worrying 4% increase in serious fork lift truck accidents between 2010/2011. The most concerning thing about these accidents is that many of them could have easily been avoided with the right training and maintenance, so make sure your team stay safe by following a few simple steps.

Risk Assessments

As a manager you are legally required to ensure the safety of your employees, and risk assessments form an important aspect of this. Regular risk assessments can help you to identify potential hazards that your operatives and the people working around your forklifts could come into contact with.

Once these hazards have been properly assessed, you can take steps to reduce the risk they pose by ensuring that you properly manage the risk factor, reducing the likelihood of accidents.

Risk assessments also ensure that you keep proper and detailed documentation, reporting accidents, defects and maintenance. This allows you to evidence that you have been proactive in ensuring the safety of your team, and when the time comes to review your assessment you will be able to respond to new risks appropriately.

Daily Checks

Every forklift truck training course will emphasise the risk of faulty machinery and the importance of maintenance checks. As such, it is essential that every day before your forklift trucks are used, they are properly inspected for any signs of damage or any faults that could affect their function and cause a risk to your workers or site visitors.

Many businesses operate a register system that will record the results of every inspection, so that everyone has access to information about the machinery and maintenance can be arranged to repair any problems.

Forklift Training

The single most important aspect of forklift safety is forklift training. As a manager, it is your job to provide adequate training for all your employees, and that every operative is fully licensed and trained to carry out their job safely and effectively.

It is highly recommended that you also provide refresher training courses for your team every two to three years, which is especially important if your operatives only use forklifts every now and again or if you get new machinery.

Choose a specialist training provider with a good reputation and qualified instructors that are capable of tailoring your training courses to meet the specific needs of your business and your individual employees.

Maintenance

Your forklift trucks will require regular maintenance and servicing to keep them in the best possible condition. It is a legal requirement that your trucks undergo a thorough check at least every 12 months, similar to an MOT, to ensure they are safe to use. However,  if you follow the manufacturer’s instructions, they may recommend that your trucks are serviced more regularly, depending on how often they are used and the environments in which they are used.

Regular maintenance will not only help to avoid unnecessary accidents caused by simple faults with the machinery, but they will also ensure serious faults are identified and remedied sooner rather than later, by which time the problem could have deteriorated into a larger fault that may be more costly to repair.

Health and Safety Training Ltd are one of the leading providers of forklift truck training, operating throughout the North East. Their highly experienced and qualified team of instructors can help to assess your training requirements and will deliver a forklift training course that exactly reflects your specific requirements.