Richard Shore

Richard Shore is managing director of Mentor FLT Training Limited, the UK's leading provider of training and associated services for all types of materials handling equipment and workplace transport.

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On 9th February this year, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) hosted a major conference in Coventry on forklift safety at which they gathered the views and opinions of people from all sectors of British industry on how to further raise awareness and improve safety for people working with and around forklifts.

One of the most common suggestions on how to achieve this from delegates and experts at the conference was the pressing need for managers and supervisors to properly monitor and manage the forklift operators under their control. In the UK since 1998, the Provision and Use of Equipment Regulations (PUWER) has established the legal requirement for any manager or supervisor to be competent to manage their staff. Regulation 9 states:

"Every employer shall ensure that any of his employees who supervise or manage the use of work equipment has received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken".

This legal requirement doesn't mean that managers and supervisors must be qualified operators themselves, but it does mean that they should at least be able to recognise bad (and good) practice and take the necessary steps to make sure the workplace is safe for everyone.

One of the most effective ways for employers to achieve this target is for their managers and supervisors to undertake a Safety Awareness Course. Such a course should equip delegates with the necessary legal framework and also the specific actions required with differing types of forklifts, access platforms and plant.