The lift truck is a dangerous machine. The newest data have proven that over 100 employees are killed in some kind of lift truck mishap. 95,000 more workers are injured on the job each and every year too, utilizing these heavy pieces of industrial machinery.
Most fatalities have been due to forklift turnovers. Being crushed between the lift truck and another surface is the second highest percentage of fatalities. The next highest cause of fatality is being struck by the forklift itself and lastly, getting hit from falling things because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Every injury or fatality is quite frightening and terrible due to the immense weight and capability of these machines.
Who Must Conduct the Training?
All teaching and evaluation for lift truck operation needs 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 after that. Some examples of a qualified trainer comprise an individual who has a certificate, professional standing or certified degree in their possession, or someone who has extensive training, knowledge and experience using lift trucks. A good candidate has lots of practice and has shown the ability to assess and teach industrial truck operators.
If the employer does not want to perform the training himself, there are numerous resources accessible for them to choose from. 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 training consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are usually local vocational and trade schools which will be very glad to provide some great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of websites committed to the safety of lift trucks. There are also private companies which provide forklift safety training services, like written programs and videos. Most safety videos could either be purchased or leased or rented. One very important thing to take into account is that simply by showing your workers a series of videos or a video about forklift safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Subsequent training and knowledge of the new drivers must be conveyed and evaluated by a particular method so as to make sure that the full training has been obtained.
When operators have passed their training requirements, they would be given a lift truck license which permits them to drive a lift truck. Valid lift truck licenses are a requirement by organizations to be able to keep everybody at the workplace as safe as possible.