The statistic was revealed at the launch of Mentor Training’s Safely Working with Lift Trucks training programme in Tower Bridge on 10 February. The new two-hour course focuses on the dangers faced by everyone working with or around forklifts; not just the operators themselves.
There are more than 1,000 serious injuries reported – including amputations, broken bones and crush injuries – every year in accidents involving forklifts.
And recently the rules around employee liability have changed so that workers now face an unlimited fine and even a prison sentence if found guilty of negligence following an incident. Previously the highest fine that could be imposed was £20,000.
The new course attempts to make forklift operators and all others who work in their environments, including factory pickers, aware of the ways accidents can happen and the best ways to avoid them. The acronym STOP – representing safe working practices, think, observe and pedestrians – underpins the teachings of the trainers.
Mentor Training MD, Stuart Taylor said: “So often when there are forklift accidents pedestrians are the ones who suffer. But by staying observant and avoiding complacency they can make a difference to safety.”
