From helping to ensure our members are up-to-date and compliant with the latest legislation to our various drives to promote greater forklift safety in the workplace, the FLTA has always looked to make a difference in the industry — and this year has been no exception.
Chief Executive at FLTA
I took up my post at the FLTA in early 2019, shortly before the Awards for Excellence. I’ve been involved in the event in the past, mostly from the side of sponsorship and presenting awards, so being behind the scenes was a rather different experience. Having the overview of the entries and seeing the stiff competition for the Archies gave me a new appreciation for the excellent work being done across the industry. And this year’s event was quite a significant one, marking a quarter century of handing out Archies to the brightest and the best.
Big winners in 2019 included Baumann’s H2GX60 in the Environment category, Combilift’s powered pallet truck getting the brand its sixth Archie by taking the FLTA Award for Safety, the Ergonomics category went to Hubtex for its MaxX multidirectional sideloader, and the hotly-contested Innovation Award went to a first-time winner: Sany, for the H9. This last one was particularly notable as the 100th product Archie handed out in Awards history.
Our long-running Safety Month campaign found its new home in October. Safety is a collective responsibility and this year’s message focused on the importance of communication and managing people’s behaviours to create a more consistent safety culture. As ever it’s always heartening to see so many companies get on board with such a vital message.
The month was capped off by the National Forklift Safety Convention, sponsored by Toyota Materials Handling UK, which took in the same themes of communication across its programme. Speakers in our high-quality lineup included the HSE’s Head of Transportation, Kanwal Kanda, who gave attendees a first look at the latest safety figures; behavioural psychologist Professor Tim Marsh; and former hostage negotiator Kirk Kinnell, who talked of the importance of listening to your workforce.
Delegates heard case studies from businesses like Aggregate Industries, DHL, and this year’s winner of the FLTA Safe Site Award, Kellogg’s. We find that it’s such an essential part of the event to hear what real companies are doing to overcome their specific challenges. It’s through sharing best practice that we can work safer and smarter as an industry.
The year has been an important one for the Association, and we’ve been working hard to keep the industry as safe and informed as we can. Plans are already well underway for 2020, so make sure to regularly check fork-truck.org.uk to keep on top of the latest developments.
FLTA
01635 277577
Comments are closed.