The lift truck is a dangerous machine. The latest data have shown that over 100 employees are killed in some form of lift truck accident. 95,000 more employees are injured on the job on a yearly basis too, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial machinery.
Nearly all fatalities have been due to forklift turnovers. Being crushed between the lift truck 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 but not least, getting hit from falling objects due to a dropped load is the last statistic. Every injury or death is quite terrible and gruesome because of the ability and immense weight of these equipment.
Who Must Perform the Training?
All teaching and assessment for lift truck operation has to be taught by appropriately trained instructors. These trainers should have the knowledge and experience to teach potential operators the necessary skills to assess their competence after that. Several examples of a skilled trainer comprise an individual who has a license, specialized degree or professional standing in their possession, or somebody who has extensive training, experience and knowledge with forklifts. A good candidate has a lot of practice and has demonstrated the ability to train and evaluate operators of industrial trucks.
There are resources accessible to pick from if their employer does not wish to perform the training themselves. Like for example, they can hire in local health and safety organizations, like for example the National Safety Council local chapters, truck manufacturers, or private teaching consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are usually local trade and vocational schools that will be glad to offer some great resources.
There are a lot of web sites on the Internet which are devoted to forklift safety. Private businesses could be found on-line which offer forklift safety training services, like videos and written programs. Most safety videos can either be rented or leased or bought. One very essential factor to take into consideration 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 knowledge of the new drivers has to be conveyed and assessed by a particular way in order to make sure that the full training has been obtained.
When drivers have passed their training requirements, they will be given a forklift certificate that enables them to operate a lift truck. Valid lift truck certificates are a requirement by organizations in order to keep everyone at the workplace as safe as possible.