Good advice there Joseph. The HSG6 is without doubt the best and most valuable publication in the UK for lift truck instructors and employers of lift truck operators. It covers all major aspects of training and operating including medical requirements etc

The link given works properly if you use the Google search engine as referenced. It will return the following synopsis with the full www search url underneath the synopsis. I did not include the url below as it would have been automatically deleted.

[PDF] Untitled
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Printed in the UK for the Stationery Office Ltd. Dd. 0084980. C9. 6/00...... This guidance supplements HSENI's ACOP on the basic training of lift-truck...

The same synopsis appears in the Google search engine if the full www url is used.

I specify Google in my link posts because the Google search engine is not dependent upon www or http dot prefixes which the Discussion Forums is programmed to delete.
_______

Forklift trainers might be interested in obtaining a copy of HSG6, Safety in Working with Lift Trucks (ISBN 0-7176-1781-5). This is the UK HSE guidance manual for forklift training. The guidance contains technical forklift operating information as opposed to the ACOP L117 regulations.

HSE states: "This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory and you are free to take further action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance as illustrating good practice."

The publication is available from HSE Books; Amazon.com; Amazon.ca; Amazon.co.uk.

Thanks John! It's working! :)

Hi Joseph

Second try to correct link - insert www. before hseni

Hi Joseph
Correct address is
http://www.hseni.gov.uk/rider_operated_lift_trucks.pdf

Hey Joseph, is it me doing something wrong or your link doesn't work? I tried pasting in my browser with no success. :(

A free pdf modified copy of ACOP L117 Rider Operated Lift Trucks - Operator Training can be downloaded from HSE Northern Ireland.

Google: hseni.gov.uk/rider_operated_lift_trucks.pdf

I may be wrong, but from what I understand, only 4 countries in South America have f/l training as the law.

This is the reason why I hve put this thread together, but we are still awaiting to hear from those around the world.

Hello everyone, I just joined your forum.

Any idea what is required in South America? We are about to move a touring show there and was wondering what we can expect from the locals we will hire?

Would it be too muc if we would ask (in our contracts) that our temps should have proper forklift training?

just spotted this forum,
what do ye think of the logbook system here in australia?
a person can drive a forklift without a license once thay have a logbook.
sometimes, thay have a logbook for a considerable amount of time with ever completing a course on basis training.

Thanks for your responses. I will use the info in a database.

Yes, I cannot believe the slow response either. No one form the Other Americas, middle east, southeast Asia, Africa, nowhere. Only Canada-US-Britain-Australia. How we always stick together. lol.

Anyhow, I will keep it alive, even if it takes years but I believe that it would be interesting to see, and analyze the feedback.

Again, thanks

Great that you posted a reply as it adds to all our knowledge.

Intersting thing to know would be the content of ACOP (L117). Went to order online for 5 pounds - but not available as PDF so cost with postage and handling plus VAT was 3.5 times higher!

In Australia our assessment includes a resource of 97 questions, some of which must be answered, and others added randomly. Of those questions 11 in fact have incorrect answers! Yet it's impossible for an individual to get them changed! NOT A GOOD START TO TRAINING.

But test is always: How effective is the training in ensuring safe forklift operation? And that's where things can be really disappointing

I have been trying so hard not to post a reply on this subject - but I guess I'm just weak ;-) Ok, In the UK the legal requirement is Health and Safety law. Section 2 of HASWA states that the employer has to be able to prove that the employee has received adequate basic training. On completion of training we the instructors issue a basic operator certificate as proof of adequate training - we dont issue a "licence"
If the certificate holder has been trained by a commercial trainer the trainer has to hold accreditation from the awarding body - if its an in-house certificate the instructor does not have to hold accreditation but the certificate is limited to that company only. A non accredited instructor can not issue certificates or imply in any way accreditation from the awarding body.
Now - UK instructors should follow training guidlines from the ACOP (L117). If the instructor does not follow the L117 that in itself is not an offence but it may be used as evidence that an offence has been committed.
So, the legal requirement in the UK is that the employer has to be able to prove that the employee has received adequate basic training in accordance with Health and Safety law (section 2 HASWA 1974, & PUWER '98 regulation 9)

In the US, companies are required to provide certification and training. Virtually, the only time the company is contacted by any government office is in the event of a serious accident. The governing agencies involved are seldom seen and appear to be "underfunded".
Due to our litigious society the motivation for safety is at least partly economic. In the depositions I have been to after accidents its all about proving that the regulations were followed, or if not, who was responsible for the breakdown of safety, so that the trial lawyers can get a big check to share with the client.

Strange with all the operator trainers out there the response to this is so slow

For my part I think accross Europe in general

Yes it is law
yes The safety authorities look for the paperwork
yes Companies have people certified

Do they enforce proper procedures,encourage good practises,? now that is another matter, All they training is suspect if operators are allowed go back to their old habits when training is completed and that is difficult to monitor.

Thanks, John.

Hi Dan

As you've already stated forklift training is the law in Australia. And you know I'm passionate about forklift safety, so I'll go further with my comments:

Does that mean companies who wish to employ people to drive forklifts ask for people to have licences. In my observation generally yes.

Does that mean companies strongly enforce with all their employees that to drive a forklift they need to have a licence. In my observation in many medium to large companies this is enforced strongly. But in less forklift safety aware companies I get the impression it is not unusual to find unlicenced people driving forklifts.

Does that mean companies train their licenced forklift drivers in the particular issues and risks associated with that business and work site and their forklifts. In my observation generally no even though most training is done on counterbnalance forklifts with capacities from 1500 kg - 2500 kg (3000 lb - 5000 lb).

Is the training effective at the basic levels? If you take the most basic requirement to know the weight of the load you about to lift and to know the capacity of your forklift, and to make sure the forklift can safely lift the load, then my answer is definitely NO! I've only come across a handful of forklift operators who know their forklifts capacity and the heaviest loads commonly lifted on site (and that's out of hundreds of operators). Along with this are the unreadable load plates (reasonably common), the missing load plates (rare), the load plates under clipboards or that have had stickers stuck to them (very common), the load plates that do not have ratings for for the attachments used with that forklift (common).

And then there's all the pallets that don't have a weight on them including inwards and outwards goods - and in process pallets rarely have weights.

In summary most drivers don't do these basic checks and often can't do them because they don't have the information.

And whenever I do refresher training I find that drivers have developed bad habits - the most common being raising the load during travel and just before turning to line up with racks - load typically will be at 1.5 - 2.0 metres by the time they are at 90 degrees to the rack.

You'll get the idea - basically while training is compulsory here it has a very limited impact on forklift safety

Well, Ed, we are not getting much of a response to our queries. I would have liked to maintain a database on our questions, but unfortunately, no one is responding. My initial question is sitting at the top of the site's cover page (thanks to the staff), and we shall await any further responses.

I would love to hear if there is any enforcement of this law in Mexico AND other countries. I think in the USA, there is a perception that one of the ways manufacturing is "cheaper" in other countries is the lack of environmental and employee safety rules and enforcement, and it will do a lot of good [international relation wise] to find that other countries also are as concerned for the safety of the working people.

Thank you, and keep it coming.

Danny