Mentor shines spotlight on forklift safety

As the official Safety Partner for the UK’s National Forklift Safety Convention, Mentor FLT Training was invited to use the occasion to launch its hard-hitting Forklift Safety Insights report to a packed audience of professionals responsible for on-site safety.

Organised by the Fork Lift Truck Association at the climax of October’s Safety Month, the theme for the event was: Forklift Safety: It’s no accident – Managing behaviours to transform on-site operations.

It was a message that was played out in a diverse but engaging series of presentations, including real-life case histories from Kellogg’s, DHL and Aggregate Industries who shared what they’ve done to change practice and culture within their organisations.

Delegates also received copies of the just-launched Mentor report Forklift Safety Insights, a concise but comprehensive view of key problem areas, based on real-world survey data from UK businesses, accompanied by simple solutions for risk reduction. Among the key findings Mentor revealed:

• Fewer than 50% of respondents checked previous experience and current standards when assessing a new starter.
• On 35% of sites, pedestrians and forklifts operated in the same area without segregation in place.
• 50% of managers had not received any formal training on how to manage forklift operations.
• 33% admitted that operators had not received all three stages of training required under ACOP, L117.

Throughout the day these issues were visited by expert speakers such as Kanwal Kanda, head of Transportation for the UK’s HSE (Health & Safety Executive), who delivered the keynote address.

According to event host and Mentor’s managing director Stuart Taylor, “The Convention is invaluable because it provides hundreds of delegates with simple, actionable and effective methods to improve their approach to safety and engage staff. By hearing from speakers from various fields of expertise, attendees will have gained new insights and identified practical actions that they are unlikely to have found elsewhere.

“The Convention echoed key findings from our report – which illustrates the scale of the issues. There is a lot of room for improvement in the industry and the only way to achieve it is with genuine commitment from senior management and the active involvement of the workforce in creating a robust safety culture.”