Forklift training is sometimes like a curate’s egg: good only in parts, so it is always sensible to take a permanently pro-active stance on this vital aspect of truck handling and that includes choosing the right outside training bodies because there are still trainers who, to put it charitably, are sub par. Even where employers use the best outside training agencies they still need to be more responsible when, for example, the nature of their storage changes.
When such changes occur the code of practice and law on training may fall short in some areas or become greyish, hence the need for common anticipatory sense. Moreover, one must guard against the still widespread ignorance of the requirements of forklift safety codes of practice, like the need for a three-stage approach to operator training. Putting drivers into a live environment solely on the strength of basic operator training is far from good enough. Laura Nelson, operations director at RTITB, says that no matter how good the Basic Training is it must be backed up by Specific Job and Familiarisation Training before the individual is authorised by the employer to operate in the workplace.
The third stage of a good training scheme is Familiarisation Training, which is closely supervised training that introduces drivers to the ‘live work’ environment for the first time. This is where the results of the first two stages of training, basic and specific job training, are put into practice in the workplace. It is this third stage where practice can fall short of codes of practice. Employers, for example, who may have trained all their forklift drivers through the three stages may subsequently decide to change part of their storage racking from, say, APR to drive-in/drive through. The latter is notoriously accident prone but how many operators would bother putting their forklift drivers through the third stage of training again?
The same could be said of a changes in the type of forklifts driven. When, for example, drivers switch from conventional counterbalance trucks to the articulated kind the code of practice insists on retraining but according to Jonathan Handley, director of Bendi driver training, many operators don’t bother, though he detects such insouciance is declining. The same could also be said for attachments, which according to the code should involve familiarisation training.
On the subject of refresher training there is no statutory obligation but the more responsible employers are now adopting triennial training schemes. Problems, however, can arise when taking on temporary agency drivers, especially when they are from overseas and may not have a full grasp of English. It is useless relying on temporary staff agencies attesting to their staff’s forklift competence or any tests these temporary staff may have passed in their home countries. Some adequate familiarisation training, therefore, should be considered, but given the short-term nature of driver hire this is unlikely. It is hardly surprising that according to one food processing factory their study revealed that agency workers were 12 times more likely to cause an accident as full-time employees. Yet prospective employers have the same duty of care to an agency worker as to a long-term, full-time employee and there is a special section, L117, in the forklift safety bible devoted to agency workers which emphasises that special risk management is required.
More information on the three stages of forklift training can be downloaded from the RTITB e-leaflet, “Training Recommendations for Workplace Transport” at http://rtitb.info/training-recommendations/.
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