The lift truck is a dangerous machine. The latest data have proven that more than 100 employees are killed in some form of forklift accident. An extra 95,000 employees are hurt on the job each year as well, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial equipment.
Unfortunately, nearly all of the fatalities are due to forklift turnovers. The next highest percentage of fatalities is due to being crushed between a lift truck and another surface. The next highest cause of death is being struck by the forklift itself and last but not least, getting hit from falling objects because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Each and every injury or fatality is quite awful and gruesome because of the immense weight and ability of these machinery.
Who Should Conduct the Training?
All training and assessment for forklift operation needs to be taught by correctly trained instructors. These trainers must have the knowledge and experience to train potential operators the required skills to evaluate their competence afterwards. Some examples of a qualified trainer include a person who has a license, specialized degree or professional standing in their possession, or someone who has extensive training, knowledge and experience utilizing forklifts. A good candidate has lots of practice and has shown the capability to teach and assess industrial truck drivers.
There are resources accessible to pick from if their employer does not want to perform the training themselves. Like for instance, they can employ in local health and safety organizations, like the National Safety Council local chapters, truck manufacturers, or private training consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are normally local vocational and trade schools that will be very happy to offer several great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of sites committed to the safety of forklifts. There are also private businesses which provide lift truck safety training services, such as videos and written programs. Nearly all safety videos could either be leased or rented or bought. One very important thing to think about is that simply by showing your employees a video or a series of videos on lift truck safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Subsequent training and knowledge of the new operators should be conveyed and evaluated by a particular method in order to ensure the full training has been obtained.
When operators have passed their training requirements, they would be given a lift truck license which allows them to drive a forklift. Valid lift truck licenses are a requirement by organizations in order to keep everybody at the workplace very safe.