If the safest workforces are the most efficient ones, as study after study reveal, then one may reasonably ask why are there over 800 serious forklift accidents reported every year, where 60% of the victims are pedestrians? After all, efficiency usually reflects high profitability. One can certainly not lay blame at the feet of forklift truck manufacturers, who have done a splendid job making their trucks safer and more ergonomic in recent decades. Nor can one say that the dissemination of information on forklift safety by official and trade bodies like HSE, FLTA and UKWA has been lacking, supported by endless trade journal articles.
Money concerns for adequate training and corner cutting to meet delivery schedules have often been cited as contributing factors stymying meaningful progress in squeezing accident numbers and there is some veracity in that but to throw more light on the money issue it would be helpful to see detailed HSE accident figures broken down by company size, based on net profit revenues and number of employees. Sure enough, the law demands all forklift drivers be properly trained but how often do they receive refresher courses and good retraining when switching from one truck type, like reach, to articulated trucks? And when using agency labour, especially from abroad where there may be language problems, claiming they have been trained do the employers put them through an adequate test?
But the money issue does not stop at forklift training. Floors and lighting are accident contributors.
Badly potholed, slippery floors with crumbing joints and lacking clear safety lines segregating trucks from pedestrians need to be tackled but why is there neglect here?
Experience shows that floor neglect can be ascribed mainly to 1) no time for repairs, 2) not a corporate priority, and 3) no money in the budget. Lighting can be an issue if older drivers are used because once in their early sixties they need six times as much light to discern objects clearly as a 20-year old.
While many forklift accidents are due to operator error linked to poor or lack of training, the many other reasons for truck accidents must be looked at and that means taking a holistic facilities management view. These could include unsuitable premises, poor layout and design of lift truck operating areas and poor truck maintenance. The last of these is perhaps more relevant today as more buyers go online for their truck purchases, where prices are invariably cheaper. Trucks could be sold in a dangerous condition while looking deceptively alluring after a lick of paint. But there are often hidden safety or mechanical issues, meaning they would not pass a thorough examination. If the truck has not been subject to a thorough examination after purchase and it becomes involved in an accident ostensibly caused by truck failure it would be the buyer who would be liable under 1998 PUWER regulations.
Other areas that must be examined include the storage medium. Damaged racking must be repaired promptly and damaged pallets removed. Damage and injuries from falling pallet loads within racking can be ameliorated with safety nets, but it is surely better to prevent the accidents in the first place.
The holistic approach to facilities management, including trucks, cannot be comprehensive unless there is full involvement of all employees on safety, in a fearfree environment, especially at board level where budgets for training are often on a tight rein.
This means, as will be demonstrated by the FLTA Safetember campaign, everyone should adopt a matey theme by looking out for ones colleagues’ safety, especially as 57% of injuries involve workers who were pedestrians.
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