Safe operations – The FLTA National Fork Lift Truck Safety Conference 2008

Warwick University Arts Centre, Thursday 25th September 2008. Make it a date! Today we can reveal further details of the Safety Conference programme to readers of Warehouse and Logistics News – the FLTA’s media partner for this key event in the materials handling calendar. Planned around the theme of Safe Operations, the conference will bring together a host of expert speakers whose presentations will show what the forklift industry is doing – and what those in the audience can do – to make lifting operations safer.

There are solid, practical reasons for everyone involved in the use of fork lift trucks to attend. That includes owners, providers, site managers, trainers, safety officers and even those who only occasionally hire lifting equipment. Each will go away with essential knowledge that can be applied to his or her own workplace.

The programme:
Tipping Trucks – the HSE Perspective
A fatal tipping incident could be described as the ultimate fork lift truck catastrophe – and it’s one that continues to happen more often than people may think. John Moutrie from the Field Operations Directorate of the Health and Safety Executive will explain why this is still such a great cause for concern and what the HSE is doing about it. Solutions to this problem – including production and use of trucks with better dynamic stability – will be discussed.

Design for Safety
Benoit Meunier of Toyota Material Handling UK, who has been instrumental in the development of the company’s Tonero range, will use examples of significant achievements in recent years to illustrate how safety features can be designed into new trucks as they are being developed.

Operational Hazard – Unloading Freight Containers
Lanre Okunribido, a Higher Ergonomist at the HSE Health and Safety Laboratory, has been working on a project to examine and reduce the risks involved in unloading and loading of freight containers. His presentation, which is not restricted to mechanical handling, will focus on key risk factors and identify good practice in this essential and routine task. The inherent dangers will be familiar to all delegates.

Attachments
B&B Attachments will highlight the key role that correct use of attachments can play in safety. The presentation will explore what is readily available, off the shelf, and will give examples of attachments that have been specially designed to make particular tasks safer.

Batteries
As CMP Batteries will make clear, batteries and their chargers continue to be a hazard in the workplace. This session will look at the safety issues relating to the operation and management of battery power and will set out the more general benefits of CMP’s new environmental grading system.

Tyres
Representatives from Continental Tyres will be demonstrating their award-winning CSEasy rapid-fit tyre, discussing the various types of tyre fitted to fork lift trucks and explaining how tyre awareness can assist safe operations.
Products

In this session there will be a series of short presentations looking at some new and innovative products that have an important part to play in operational safety. Speakers will include representatives from Mentor FLT Training Ltd and Castell Safety.

Alternative Fuel Sources
Ian Melhuish of the NACCO Materials Handling Group will give a presentation on this topic. Although not strictly a safety issue, the availability of alternative fuel sources is certain to affect everyone in the materials handling industry – and perhaps sooner than we imagine. Many of today’s fork lift operating hazards relate to the fuels we use. Will alternative fuels be safer, or will they introduce new safety challenges? These and other issues will be discussed, along with examples of what Hyster is already doing in this exciting field.
Where, when and how much?

Safe Operations – the FLTA National Fork Lift Truck Safety Conference 2008 – will be held in the Warwick University Arts Centre on Thursday 25th September 2008.

It’s a full day event, for which tickets are priced at £93.00 (inc VAT) for members of the FLTA or its Safe User Group and £125.00 (inc VAT) for non-members. The price includes refreshments and documentation.

For further details visit the FLTA website www.fork-truck.org.uk, email mail@fork-truck.org.uk or call the FLTA office on 01256 381441