The lift truck is a dangerous equipment. The newest statistics have shown that over 100 workers are killed in some kind of forklift mishap. 95,000 more workers are injured on the job on an annual basis as well, using these heavy pieces of industrial machines.
Nearly all fatalities have been because of 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 items because of a dropped load is the last statistic. Every injury or fatality is quite gruesome and awful due to the ability and immense weight of these machinery.
Who Must Perform the Training?
All training and assessment for lift truck operation needs to be taught by correctly trained instructors. These trainers should have the knowledge and experience to teach potential operators the required skills to assess their competence after that. Some examples of a qualified trainer consist of a person who has a certificate, specialized 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 experience and has shown the capability to train and evaluate drivers of industrial trucks.
There are resources available to pick from if their employer does not wish 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 teaching consultants who specialize in powered industrial trucks. There are usually local vocational and trade schools which will be glad to provide some great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of websites committed to the safety of forklifts. There are also private companies which provide lift truck safety training services, such as written programs and videos. Most safety videos can either be rented or leased or purchased. One really important thing to think about 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. Subsequent training and skill of the new operators has to be conveyed and assessed by a specific way in order to ensure the complete training has been obtained.
When operators have passed their training requirements, they would receive a lift truck certificate that permits them to drive a lift truck. Valid lift truck licenses are a requirement by organizations to be able to keep everyone at the workplace really safe.