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Forklift safety week: An ideal time to assess your performance

Two British workers will be killed by fork lift trucks this September, and up to 60 more will suffer very serious injuries.  That’s unless Forklift Safety Week - a new awareness campaign being launched by the Forklift Truck Association (FLTA) - can cut accident rates in what has been described as “the deadliest month of the year”.

National Fork Lift Safety Week (22nd – 28th September 2008) will mark the culmination of a month-long campaign by members of the FLTA. It ties in with nominations for the FLTA’s Forklift Safety Awards and it’s National Safety Conference.

Statistics suggest as many as two thirds of accidents kill or injure someone who was not driving the truck at the time – meaning anybody visiting or working at one of the estimated 100,000 British business that use a fork lift truck could be at risk. So, therefore the Association’s safety message for this year’s campaign is a simple one:  “Pedestrians and fork lift trucks don’t mix.”. The campaigns focus will extend beyond forklift operators to work colleagues and members of the public.

Although the key focus is on pedestrian safety, companies using forklift truck will be given important reminders of the need to consider all elements of good working practice. This includes operator selection and training, safe operation, inspections and maintenance. 

Free advice pack and assessment from Scafftag

Scafftag is putting its full support behind National Fork Lift Safety Week by offering a free vehicle inspection guidance pack and one-to-one assessment.

Available to request now from www.scafftag.com/forkliftsafety the pack contains a free forklift inspection guide poster, fact sheet and monitoring systems guides to help companies improve the communication and recording of inspection status.

Jonathan Edwin, Scafftag’s General Manager, says: “Often it takes a fatality or a national awareness campaign such as this to remind people that a better approach to site inspections could prevent many accidents.

“Our Scafftag Equip forklift pack and a range of other advice is freely available from our website, but we also recognise that every company is unique. That’s why we also encourage firms to take up our free on-site assessment, which systematically applies legal requirements and good practices regarding inspections and identifies how well current processes fulfil them. It’s pre-arranged and carried out by a dedicated expert who will make firm recommendations at the end of their visit. Past experience shows that they can be a vital tool to benchmark and improve business performance.”