Tough training wanted

Recent criticism levelled at forklift training has focused on the worryingly low fail rates: when only a reported 2 in every 1,000 fail their forklift operator course, how strict and rigorous can it be?

The good news is that this issue is being addressed by the Accrediting Bodies Association (ABA), the gatekeeper of lift truck training standards, with the expectation that things will significantly improve over the coming months.

Forklift accidents are on the increase

David Sparrow, managing director of AITT (Association of Industrial Truck Trainers) one of four main accrediting bodies under the umbrella of the ABA spells out the problem. “According to the most recent statistics released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), there were approximately 1,300 people hospitalised last year as a result of a serious forklift truck accident. It’s a significant increase on the HSE’s previous annual figure of 800, with an average of three people now put in hospital every day by lift trucks.

“This increasing frequency of accidents is a very worrying trend, with figures suggesting the greatest cause is operator error. This invariable comes down to a lack of appropriate training, not only for operators but also site supervisors and other workers on foot.”

Box-ticking

More recent concerns have been raised about whether some of the bigger companies – who often train large numbers of operators in-house – are treating driver training more like a box-ticking HR exercise than a serious attempt to establish safe and professional operating standards on-site.

In-house forklift operator courses that are independent from the UK’s main accreditation bodies have also come under increasing scrutiny for wide inconsistencies in quality, and for failing to deliver training to the standard demanded by an accredited course such as the AITT’s.

More rigorous standards

David explains: “In November last year the ABA and its principal members – including ourselves – met with industry to discuss the standard of training and it was agreed by all parties that the bar should be raised in terms of difficulty level.

“Together we drew up recommendations focusing on key areas of counterbalance and reach truck practice. Proposals were made to amend the scoring system to penalise more serious driver mistakes and make consistent errors an automatic fail. On the theory side, the number of potential answers on multiple choice questions has been increased from three to four with the nature of the questions being changes to help rule out guess-work.

“These proposals are about be put to the industry, with the very real prospect that training will be significantly improved in the very near future. And because workplace transport categories have recently been standardised by the ABA, it’s now much easier for employers to identify the exact course required by each member of staff.”

Real-world practice

David continues: “The AITT along with other ABA members is in an ideal position because its accredited instructors are on the ground in the warehouses and on sites where forklift trucks operate day in and day out, spotting recurring instances of bad practice which are then fed back into operator training courses.

“The AITT’s Training Standards Advisors (TSAs) also conduct frequent accreditation site visits to assess the standard of instructors and operators, identifying trends, deficiencies in training and worrying practices on-site.

“This constant interaction between actual bad practice on-site and training courses designed to address them is part of what makes AITT courses particularly responsive, robust and exhaustive.

“One example of this process in action is spotting the recent trend of low level order picker operators stepping off their machine before it actually stops, separating them from the controls at a crucial moment. All AITT-accredited courses now place extra emphasis on the dangers of leaving a vehicle before it stops by highlighting the risks it poses to colleagues, stock and racking.”

David concludes: “All of the AITT’s work – from behind the scenes on the warehouse floor to the accredited course standards we provide – is designed to minimise bad practice and improve the overall quality and professionalism of forklift truck operations on a national basis. 

“Our challenge is to help reverse the upwards trend of lift truck accidents and safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the 1,000,000 people who work on or alongside forklift trucks in the UK.”