Lift trucks are very dangerous piece of machinery. Data by OSHA prove that roughly 100 warehouse employees are killed every year in forklift mishaps while they are utilizing them. An extra 95,000 workers are injured on the job each year too, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial machinery.
Sadly, most of the fatalities are due to forklift turnovers. The second highest percentage of fatalities is due to being crushed between a lift truck and another surface. The next highest cause of fatality is being struck by the lift truck itself and lastly, getting hit from falling objects because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Each injury or death is quite frightening and awful due to the capability and immense weight of these machines.
Who Must Conduct the Training?
All evaluation and training needs to be trained by people who have the appropriate education, knowledge and experience to train powered industrial truck drivers the correct skills and then to evaluate their competency after that. Some examples of a skilled trainer comprise an individual who has a certificate, specialized degree or professional status in their possession, or who has extensive training, knowledge and experience using lift trucks. A good candidate has a lot of practice and has shown the capability to assess and teach drivers of industrial trucks.
There are resources available to choose from if their employer does not wish to perform the training themselves. Like for example, they could hire in local health and safety organizations, including 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 would be very happy to offer some great resources.
The internet is full of sites dedicated to the safety of forklifts. There are also private companies who offer lift truck safety training services, such as videos and written programs. Most safety videos could either be leased or rented or purchased. One essential factor to consider is that simply by showing your workers 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 operators should be conveyed and evaluated by a particular method so as to ensure the full training has been obtained.
Once the operator has successfully passed all of the required training, a lift truck certificate will be issued and they would legally be able to drive a forklift. Valid forklift certificates are a requirement by organizations to be able to keep everyone at the workplace really safe.