Forklifts are very dangerous piece of machinery. Statistics by OSHA show that roughly 100 warehouse workers are killed each and every year in forklift mishaps while they are utilizing them. An extra 95,000 workers are injured on the job every year too, using these heavy pieces of industrial machinery.
Most fatalities have been due to lift truck turnovers. Being crushed between the lift truck and another surface is the next highest percentage of fatalities. The third highest cause of death is being struck by the lift truck itself and last of all, getting hit from falling objects due to a dropped load is the last statistic. Each fatality or injury is quite awful and gruesome because of the immense weight and ability of these machinery.
Who Must Conduct the Training?
All teaching and evaluation for forklift operation needs to be taught by properly trained instructors. These trainers must have the knowledge and experience to teach potential operators the required skills to assess their competence afterwards. Several examples of a qualified trainer include an individual who has a license, professional status or specialized degree in their possession, or who has extensive training, knowledge and experience using lift trucks. A good candidate has lots of experience and has shown the capability to assess and train operators of industrial trucks.
There are resources available to select from if their employer does not want to perform the training themselves. Like for example, they can 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 usually local vocational and trade schools which would be very happy to offer some great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of web sites committed to the safety of forklifts. There are also private businesses which provide lift truck safety training services, like videos and written programs. Nearly all safety videos can either be bought or leased or rented. One very vital factor to take into account is that simply by showing your employees a video or a series of videos about lift truck safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Succeeding training and skill of the new operators needs to be conveyed and evaluated by a specific method so as to ensure the full training has been obtained.
When the driver has successfully passed all of the required training, a lift truck license would be given and they will legally be able to operate a forklift. Valid forklift licenses are a requirement by organizations so as to keep everyone at the workplace very safe.