Welcome to the Warehouse & Logistics News 2009 FLTA Health & Safety Supplement, marking the Fork Lift Truck Association’s 2009 Safety Conference at Warwick University on Friday 30th September.
Once again the FTLA have asked Warehouse & Logistics News to be media partners, and as the UK’s only fortnightly title for the industry we are proud to publish this supplement to coincide with this important event.
In these pages you can find out about new research and practical advice to help you identify the major risks and communicate them to your staff to keep your site, operations and colleagues productive and safe in your use of fork lift trucks.
Started in 2003, the FLTA Safety Conference is now well established as an essential annual fixture in the materials handling calendar. As ever, its aim is to give practical guidance on the issues and problems raised by, and directly affecting, users of fork lift trucks.
This year’s Safety Conference has the theme, Understanding and Communicating the Risks. It runs across the full programme of presentations that will show what the fork lift industry is doing – and what individuals can do – to highlight potential safety threats in the workplace.
September also sees the return of National Fork Lift Safety Week, which this year returns from 21st-27th September. Throughout the month the FLTA is offering free safety resources like posters and DVDs at its website www.fork-truck.org.uk – to help companies make the most of this important chance to improve safety awareness.
Whether you run one forklift truck or hundreds, you are new to the industry or you have decades of experience, you can’t afford to get complacent about how you are using the equipment in your business.
Fork lift truck safety, and protection for both operators and pedestrians in the areas where fork lifts are working, must be central to the health and safety precautions of any organisation involved in handling palletised materials.
The hard fact is that in a recession it’s tempting to cut costs, but taking chances on fork lift safety can kill. The figures speak for themselves. This year, around eight UK workers will be killed by fork lift trucks. And more than 400 employees will suffer amputations, fractures or dislocations, or need resuscitation or an overnight hospital stay, following fork lift accidents.
It would be wonderful to see an improvement in these figures by next year’s FLTA Safety Conference. Meanwhile if we all do our bit to promote Understanding and Communicating the Risks, things could get better. Here’s to that!
Warehouse & Logistics News
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