The forklift is a dangerous machine. The newest data have proven that over 100 workers are killed in some type of forklift accident. An additional 95,000 workers are hurt on the job on an annual basis too, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial equipment.
Nearly all fatalities have been due to lift truck turnovers. Being crushed between the lift truck and another surface is the next highest percentage of fatalities. The next highest cause of fatality is being struck by the lift truck itself and lastly, getting hit from falling items because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Each death or injury is quite gruesome and terrible due to the immense weight and capability of these machines.
Who Must Perform the Training?
All teaching and assessment for lift truck operation needs to be trained by properly trained instructors. These trainers should have the knowledge and experience to teach potential operators the necessary skills to evaluate their competency afterwards. Some examples of a skilled trainer include a person who has a certificate, professional standing or specialized degree in their possession, or somebody who has extensive training, experience and knowledge utilizing lift trucks. A good candidate has a lot of practice and has demonstrated the capability to teach and assess industrial truck drivers.
If the employer does not want to perform the training himself, there are many resources available for them to choose from. Like for example, they can 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 that will be really glad to offer some great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of sites committed to the safety of lift trucks. There are also private companies which provide forklift safety training services, such as videos and written programs. Most safety videos could either be leased or rented or purchased. One essential thing to think about is that simply by showing your employees a series of videos or a video on lift truck safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Subsequent training and knowledge of the new operators has to be conveyed and assessed by a particular method in order to make certain that the complete training has been acquired.
Once the operator has successfully passed all of the required training, a lift truck license will be issued and they will legally be able to drive a lift truck. Valid forklift certificates are a requirement by organizations to be able to keep everybody at the workplace really safe.