Where to turn for safety
October 14th 2008

The Fork Lift Truck Association strongly believes that all fork lift truck owners and managers should have a good understanding of the industry’s best practices and of the legislation designed to protect their employees and the public. Sometimes, this is easier said than done.

The sheer volume of paperwork and the ever-changing regulations are perhaps the greatest obstacles to firms trying to improve their workplaces’ safety levels and comply with the law. We cannot possibly hope to cover everything in an article of this size but we will instead set out some key principles and direct readers to the best sources of further information.

Remember the basics

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in its Route Map for the Safe Operation of Workplace Transport, recognises four essential elements of fork lift safety: safe managers, safe operators, safe sites and safe trucks. On the HSE website – at www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport – you will find advice on those four elements, under the following headings.

A free copy of the Fork Lift Truck Association Safety 4MOST pack, which sets out the basics of fork lift safety within the same four areas, is downloadable from the FLTA website www.fork-truck.org.

Management responsibilities

Managers decide who to employ as an operator, what training to provide, what equipment to buy or hire, what practices to allow or disallow, and how to monitor those practices. Safety problems are often the result of poor decisions. Risk assessment is a key tool that can be used by managers to improve the situation. The risk assessment should include the layout and condition of the site, the type and specification of equipment used, the maintenance regimes, and the training, monitoring and discipline of operators.

Personnel

Operators will perform safely if they are properly trained, have a good attitude towards safe practice and are effectively supervised. They should be encouraged to take their training seriously and apply the safe practices they have learned, every day – without taking short cuts. Key considerations include keeping to the machinery for which they have been trained, making sure that their colleagues do the same and always making time for careful pre-shift checks of their trucks.

Site layout and maintenance

Safety should be the uppermost consideration when designing a site. This is easiest to achieve when planning a new building or complex, but even an old site can be reviewed and redesigned where necessary. Workplaces should be kept clean and tidy, as debris and spillages can cause accidents. Every employee should take responsibility for this. Maintaining a safe site requires a positive attitude towards following and enforcing safe practices, raising awareness of safety issues and carrying out regular site checks.

Vehicle selection and maintenance

Professional advice should be sought to ensure that the equipment you intend to use – including any attachments – is suited to the task. This should be reviewed each time the task or location changes, and on a regular basis advice should be taken on whether there are new developments in fork lift design that might help.

There should be a formal regime for checks, maintenance and inspections. Daily and weekly checks should be carried out properly and recorded. The truck should not be used if a fault affecting safety is discovered. A programme of planned preventative maintenance should be followed – rather than waiting until faults occur. A Thorough Examination – which is a very different thing from regular maintenance – should be scheduled at intervals specified by the Competent Person who makes the examination.

Safety & the law

A great deal of health and safety legislation for fork lift trucks can be found in the PUWER 98 and LOLER 98 regulations. The HSE publishes a large amount of information which helps operators and managers understand regulations. The easiest and cheapest guide is HSG6. Truck users should consult L117 for vital information on training. Advice on the legal accountability of truck users in regard to Thorough Examination may be found on the website www.thoroughexamination.org.

Information at your fingertips

The Fork Lift Truck Association’s website (www.fork-truck.org.uk) provides visitors with a catalogue of safety publications and resources. Elsewhere on the site are details of training courses for engineers as well as events and news.

A library of Fact Sheets is available on the site which answers truck users’ most frequently asked questions. For example, FS08 examines the use of fork lifts on public roads while FS13 looks at the safe storage of LPG cylinders. Others include advice on operator refresher training (FS12), legal requirements of maintenance (FS10) and best practice when using working platforms (FS18).

The FLTA’s Safe User Group offers managers responsible for the safe operation of one or more fork lift trucks the chance to obtain concise information and regular updates on legislation, health and safety, best operating practice and correct inspection.

The FLTA organises an annual National Fork Lift Truck Safety Conference each September, aimed at providing truck users with practical guidance on how to improve safety.

More articles from Fork Lift Truck Association: