The lift truck is a dangerous machine. The most recent statistics have shown that over 100 workers are killed in some form of lift truck accident. 95,000 more employees are hurt on the job on an annual basis as well, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial equipment.
Sadly, most of the fatalities are due to forklift turnovers. The next highest percentage of fatalities is due to being crushed between a forklift and another surface. The next highest cause of death is being struck by the forklift itself and lastly, getting hit from falling items because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Each fatality or injury is quite awful and gruesome due to the ability and immense weight of these machines.
Who Must Perform the Training?
All assessment and teaching needs to be taught by people who have the right training, experience and knowledge to teach powered industrial truck operators the right skills and then to evaluate their competence afterwards. Several examples of a skilled trainer include an individual who has a certificate, specialized degree or professional standing in their possession, or somebody who has extensive training, experience and knowledge utilizing lift trucks. A good candidate has lots of experience and has shown the ability to train and assess drivers of industrial trucks.
There are resources available to choose from if their employer does not wish to perform the training themselves. For instance, they can employ in local health and safety organizations, like for example truck manufacturers, the National Safety Council local chapters, or private training consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are normally local trade and vocational schools that would be glad to offer some great resources.
There are a lot of websites on the World Wide Web that are committed to lift truck safety. Private businesses can be found online who offer lift truck safety training services, like videos and written programs. The majority of safety videos can either be leased or rented or bought. One very vital thing to consider is that simply by showing your workers a series of videos or a video on lift truck safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Succeeding training and skill of the new drivers must be conveyed and assessed by a specific method in order to make sure that the full training has been obtained.
Once the driver has successfully passed all of the required training, a lift truck certificate would be given and they would legally be able to drive a lift truck. Valid lift truck certificates are a requirement by organizations in order to keep everyone at the workplace as safe as possible.