Targeting the culture of silence

The defining question for the event - is there a killer in your warehouse? - will prompt focus on real-world practices that you can take back to your workplace to transform fork truck safety.

The conference will be held at University of Warwick on Wednesday, 24th September, 2014 with the support of sponsor Briggs Equipment.

It goes without saying that the fork lift truck is a particularly dangerous piece of equipment but perhaps the greatest threat to life, limb and stock is the culture of silence whereby near misses and dangerous practices are spotted but go unaddressed.

The primary aim of this year’s national fork truck safety conference is, therefore, to present proven, real-world methods that will empower all employees to share responsibility for fork lift safety in a no-blame environment.

Key to this will be a series of case-history sessions led by companies who have successfully implemented change in the workplace and are prepared to share their experiences and insights.

For the first time, there will be an open forum – the Practical Safety Panel – in which experts drawn from all aspects of industry including legal, technical and insurance professionals, along with specialist representatives from HSE and the TUC, will answer questions and engage in a wide-ranging debate.

Opening with a keynote address from Philip White, Director of the Health & Safety Executive’s Cross-Cutting Interventions Directorate, the Conference’s impressive roster of presenters includes speakers from peer companies, as well as experts from the materials handling industry.

Sponsor Briggs Equipment, for example, will present a paper on its highly successful "Safety Gains” programme, while Babcock Marine will reveal details of its award-winning, total-engagement strategy.

"This year’s Conference will mark a step-change in our ongoing drive to increase safety standards and reduce accidents,” said FLTA chief executive Peter Harvey. "I would urge everyone to keep their eyes on the FLTA website and on their emails for more detailed information on speakers, sessions and other developments as they are announced.”

Tying in closely with the Safety Conference theme, Safety Week – which runs from 22nd to 28th September 2014 – will be the focal point of an on-going campaign to keep this all-important issue at the forefront of everyone’s minds.