LIFTING EQUIPMENT
Raising safety awareness
September is statistically the worst month for accidents involving fork lift trucks, which is why every year the Fork Lift Truck Association chooses this month to hold its annual safety conference, reports Richard Mackillican
S
afety should always be the number one concern when working anywhere, but it is especially important in the rail industry, given the large amount of heavy equipment being operated and the potentially hazardous materials used.
This issue of safety in demanding workspaces is the focus of an annual week of campaigning, carried out by the Fork Lift Truck Association.
This year the main push was for management and supervision of forklift truck operations.
David Ellison, the Association’s Chief Executive, said: “I believe this would be highly relevant to the rail industry, as although there are not many lone workers, there are certainly small groups of people working in large complexes where supervision could be really important, in terms of maintaining standards.
“For example, if you have a person operating a forklift truck working offloading on the sidings or in depot, it is really important the people who are responsible for supervision have an idea of what is good and bad practice. That is what we have been trying to highlight this time around.
“I think one of the most important things is to make sure those who are responsible for the supervision of the lifting operations actually understand what is involved – that doesn’t mean they have to be able to operate a forklift truck but it does mean they need to know if a truck is being used inappropriately.
something which is possible to be done in-house.
“During Safety Week we made a presentation available for free from our website which covers a lot of these points and could be used to complement safety training for supervisors. Although this is part of the resources normally available only to fee-paying members of the Association, we have made this freely available to readers of Rail Technology Magazine. All people need to do is call us and say they heard about the offer in this magazine.”
“For example, a supervisor needs to know if a truck is being driven too quickly, especially over rough or uneven ground. They also need to stop drivers carrying loads with the forks elevated, which makes the truck unstable and can lead to a tip-over, which is extremely dangerous.
“Operators will often try to cut corners - because they are under pressure - and will try to get the mast raised before they get to where it is going to be put away.
“They often try to do two things at once; moving forward and lifting or lowering the load at the same time, which they shouldn’t be doing. But the supervisors wouldn’t necessarily know that unless someone has pointed that out to them.
“Similarly trucks should never be used for carrying extra people - there should never, ever be a passenger on a truck, whether it is standing on the fork, or
54 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 11
beside the operator or whatever. Operators should also never use mobile phones whilst driving trucks, which is also a frequent problem.
“There are a number of issues we believe supervisors need to be aware of and if they haven’t been a lift operator themselves - and so don’t understand the process - they will probably need some sort of training. It doesn’t have to be formal training, just a tool- box type talk from someone who understands and knows what the risks are.
“This can be done in-house, as I am sure most rail companies will have their own in-house fork-lift instructors able to give a reasonable briefing to supervisors with regards to what and what does not constitute good practice. Otherwise, there are a lot of independent forklift truck companies which would be able to provide training in the same way, but really it should be
As budgets become further stretched, there is the worry that even more pressure will be put on operators to cut corners even more, so this safety training will become even more important.
“Some of the corner-cutting which also concerns us is around the maintenance of forklift trucks as well as training, because these are areas which are vulnerable to cuts. This is because companies will sometimes think they can put off safety training until a point where they have more money – just as someone who knows a truck needs a service every six months may try to put that service off until a later point.
“Beyond this there is the ‘Thorough Examination’ – a kind of MOT for forklift trucks – which is a legal requirement and has a statutory maximum time interval. However, sometimes people don’t know that, so there is a danger these could be left to slip and that would be a big mistake. However, because it is akin to maintenance, sometimes
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