Welcome to the 1st October Warehouse & Logistics News. We’re now into the final quarter of 2012: it’s heads down to Christmas, working hard and no more Jubilees, Olympics or Paralympics to get stuck into. At least there’s plenty of sport to relax when you get the chance, not least the Ryder Cup, happening as we went to press, and for UK politics buffs, what promises to be a bruising few months. Best of all, there’s good news on the economic front, with signs that the outlook may at last be getting brighter…
In this issue’s features we look at Lifting Gears and Cranes, Doors & Curtains and Fork Trucks. Lifting Gear covers everything from scissor lifts through to heavy-duty cranes. Doors & Curtains takes in industrial doors, curtains and roller-shutters. And Fork Trucks takes in all aspects of those indispensible machines that warehouse and logistics people can’t function without.
Speaking of which, in today’s safety-conscious environment, many UK companies with warehousing and logistics operations recognise the need to give proper training to their staff members who are required to operate forklift trucks. Even so, sadly accidents still happen, as the recent FLTA Safety Conference made clear, with an estimated 20% of incidents involving lack of training or supervision.
In this issue we interview Steve Baldwin, Technical Manager at Mentor Training. Mentor is the UK’s leading provider of training and associated services for all types of materials handling equipment and workplace transport. Steve calls for a combined industry initiative to be taken by organisations involved with lift trucks and headed up by the HSE focusing on the requirements of Regulation 9 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). As WLN readers will all know, this requires that not only are the operators of forklift trucks trained, but those who manage them have sufficient training to be able to determine when one is being driven correctly or incorrectly.
And now back to the good news about UK business. As we closed this issue, the latest figures showed Britain’s economy had contracted less than expected during the second quarter, putting us in a stronger position for a return to growth. In short, allowing for the extra bank holiday for the Jubilee, the economy may be showing some growth. Specifically, growth in manufacturing, solid retail sales and improving business surveys point to solid growth in the third quarter. You can’t complain about that!
Warehouse & Logistics News
Comments are closed.