The lift truck is a dangerous machinery. The newest statistics have shown that more than 100 employees are killed in some form of forklift accident. 95,000 more employees are injured on the job on a yearly basis as well, 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 death is being struck by the lift truck itself and lastly, getting hit from falling things due to a dropped load is the last statistic. Every death or injury is quite frightening and terrible due to the immense weight and ability of these machinery.
Who Must Perform the Training?
All evaluation and teaching needs to be taught by people who have the right training, experience and knowledge to teach powered industrial truck operators the right skills and then to evaluate their competence afterwards. Several examples of a qualified trainer comprise an individual who has a license, specialized degree or professional standing in their possession, or who has extensive training, experience and knowledge using lift trucks. A good candidate has a lot of practice and has demonstrated the ability to evaluate and train operators of industrial trucks.
There are resources available to choose from if their employer does not want to perform the training themselves. For example, they can hire 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 normally local trade and vocational schools which would be glad to provide some great resources.
The World Wide Web is full of sites dedicated to the safety of forklifts. There are also private businesses that provide forklift safety training services, like written programs and videos. Nearly all safety videos can either be leased or rented or bought. One essential thing to take into consideration is that simply by showing your employees a series of videos or a video on forklift safety, does not meet the full requirements of the OSHA standard. Succeeding training and knowledge of the new drivers needs to be conveyed and assessed by a particular way so as to ensure the full training has been obtained.
When the driver has successfully passed all of the necessary training, a lift truck certificate would be given and they would legally be able to drive a forklift. Valid lift truck licenses are a requirement by organizations so as to keep everybody at the workplace as safe as possible.