The forklift is a dangerous equipment. The latest statistics have shown that over 100 employees are killed in some kind of lift truck mishap. An additional 95,000 employees are injured on the job on an annual basis as well, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial machines.
Sadly, nearly all of the fatalities are because of lift truck turnovers. The second highest percentage of fatalities is due to being crushed between a lift truck and another surface. The third highest cause of death is being struck by the forklift itself and lastly, getting hit from falling items due to a dropped load is the last statistic. Every injury or death is quite gruesome and terrible because of the immense weight and capability of these machines.
Who Should Perform the Training?
All training and evaluation for forklift operation has to be taught by appropriately trained instructors. These trainers must have the knowledge and experience to teach potential operators the required skills to evaluate their competency afterwards. Some examples of a skilled trainer comprise a person who has a license, specialized degree or professional status in their possession, or someone who has extensive training, knowledge and experience utilizing lift trucks. A good candidate has a lot of experience and has shown the ability to train and evaluate operators of industrial trucks.
If the employer does not wish to perform the training himself, there are many resources accessible for them to pick from. Like for example, they can employ in local health and safety organizations, like for instance the National Safety Council local chapters, truck manufacturers, or private training consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are usually local trade and vocational schools which will be really glad to offer some great resources.
There are a lot of sites on the Internet that are devoted to lift truck safety. Private companies could be found on line who offer lift truck safety training services, like videos and written programs. Most safety videos can either be purchased or rented or leased. One very important 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. Succeeding training and skill of the new drivers needs to be conveyed and assessed by a specific way so as to make sure that the complete training has been obtained.
When operators have passed their training requirements, they will be given a forklift certificate that allows them to drive a forklift. Valid forklift certificates are a requirement by organizations so as to keep everybody at the workplace as safe as possible.