The forklift is a dangerous machine. The most recent statistics have proven that more than 100 employees are killed in some form of forklift mishap. 95,000 more employees are injured on the job on a yearly basis as well, using these heavy pieces of industrial machines.
Nearly all fatalities have been because of forklift turnovers. Being crushed between the forklift and another surface is the next highest percentage of fatalities. The third highest cause of fatality is being struck by the lift truck itself and last of all, getting hit from falling items due to a dropped load is the last statistic. Every injury or death is quite gruesome and awful due to the immense weight and capability of these equipment.
Who Must Conduct the Training?
All training and evaluation for forklift operation has to be trained by correctly trained instructors. These trainers must have the knowledge and experience to train potential operators the necessary skills to assess their competency afterwards. Some examples of a qualified trainer include an individual who has a certificate, certified degree or professional status in their possession, or somebody who has extensive training, knowledge and experience utilizing lift trucks. A good candidate has a lot of practice and has shown the capability to assess and train operators of industrial trucks.
If the employer does not want to perform the training himself, there are many resources available for them to pick from. Like for example, they could employ 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 often local vocational and trade schools which will be happy to offer some great resources.
There are numerous web sites on the World Wide Web which are devoted to forklift safety. Private companies can be found on-line who provide lift truck safety training services, such as videos and written programs. Most safety videos can either be rented or leased or purchased. One very important factor to consider is that simply by showing your workers a video or a series of videos on forklift safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Subsequent training and skill of the new operators must be conveyed and evaluated by a particular method so as to make sure that the full training has been acquired.
When the driver has successfully passed all of the required training, a forklift certificate would be issued and they would legally be able to drive a forklift. Valid lift truck certificates are a requirement by organizations in order to keep everybody at the workplace as safe as possible.