The lift truck is a dangerous equipment. The most recent data have proven that more than 100 employees are killed in some form of forklift accident. 95,000 more employees are hurt on the job every year as well, using these heavy pieces of industrial machines.
Unfortunately, nearly all of the fatalities are because of forklift turnovers. The second highest percentage of fatalities is due to being crushed between a forklift and another surface. The third highest cause of fatality is being struck by the forklift itself and lastly, getting hit from falling items because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Each death or injury is quite awful and frightening because of the ability and immense weight of these equipment.
Who Should Perform the Training?
All teaching and assessment for lift truck operation needs to be taught by properly trained instructors. These trainers must have the experience and knowledge to teach potential operators the required skills to evaluate their competence afterwards. Some examples of a skilled trainer include an individual who has a license, certified degree or professional standing in their possession, or who has extensive training, knowledge and experience with forklifts. A good candidate has a lot of experience and has shown the capability to teach and evaluate industrial truck drivers.
There are resources accessible to select from if their employer does not wish to perform the training themselves. For example, they could hire in local health and safety organizations, like truck manufacturers, the National Safety Council local chapters, or private training consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are usually local trade and vocational schools which will be happy to offer several great resources.
There are lots of websites on the Internet who are committed to forklift safety. Private companies could be found on line that provide forklift safety training services, like written programs and videos. The majority of safety videos could either be rented or leased or bought. One essential factor to take into consideration is that simply by showing your employees a series of videos or a video about forklift safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Subsequent training and knowledge of the new drivers must be conveyed and assessed by a particular method so as to ensure the complete training has been acquired.
Once operators have passed their training requirements, they would receive a lift truck license that allows them to operate a forklift. Valid forklift certificates are a requirement by organizations to be able to keep everyone at the workplace as safe as possible.