There was an interesting article by the AITT in the latest SHD Logistics magazine - See here to read it all.

A couple of stats/quotes that jumped out at me were:

"Forklift damage is another large contributor to unnecessary costs. It is estimated that truck damage can add as much as 5% to the cost of a standard lease. Across a fleet of trucks you're looking at many thousands of pounds of largely unnecessary costs per year."

"One major supermarket chain spends £3m each year on replacing damaged racking alone. Even a modest improvement to their operationwould amount to significant savings".

As a company that provides tagging and checklist systems to help reduce these risks we receive consistant feedback from customers advising us that their small investment has given them significant savings by spotting faults before they develop into something more serious. It's pretty evident that prevention is the key.

According to the HSE approximately 2,000 accidents and 10 fatalities are reported each year as a result of forklift operation in the United Kingdom. That's around 40 major injuries each week.