The lift truck is a dangerous machine. The latest data have shown that more than 100 workers are killed in some form of lift truck mishap. An additional 95,000 employees are injured on the job every year as well, using these heavy pieces of industrial machinery.
Unfortunately, most of the fatalities are because of lift truck turnovers. The next 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 last but not least, getting hit from falling things due to a dropped load is the last statistic. Every fatality or injury is quite awful and frightening because of the ability and immense weight of these machinery.
Who Should Conduct the Training?
All assessment and training has to be taught by people who have the right education, experience and knowledge to teach powered industrial truck drivers the right skills and then to evaluate their competency afterwards. Several examples of a qualified trainer comprise a person who has a certificate, specialized degree or professional status in their possession, or somebody who has extensive training, experience and knowledge using lift trucks. A good candidate has plenty of experience and has demonstrated the capability to assess and teach industrial truck drivers.
There are resources accessible to pick from if their employer does not want to perform the training themselves. For example, they could employ in local health and safety organizations, like truck manufacturers, the National Safety Council local chapters, or private teaching consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are often local vocational and trade schools which would be happy to provide some great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of websites committed to the safety of forklifts. There are also private businesses who provide forklift safety training services, such as videos and written programs. The majority of safety videos could either be rented or leased or bought. One vital thing to take into consideration is that simply by showing your workers a series of videos or a video about lift truck safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Subsequent training and skill of the new operators needs to be conveyed and assessed by a specific method in order to ensure the complete training has been acquired.
Once the operator has successfully passed all of the necessary training, a lift truck license will be issued and they would legally be able to drive a lift truck. Valid forklift certificates are a requirement by organizations in order to keep everyone at the workplace as safe as possible.