In the 21st century, health and safety considerations in the workplace are more important than ever before. As technology takes more and more of a place in our workplaces, we are more susceptible to injuries and accidents than ever before and, sadly, many of these are entirely avoidable, especially when it comes to forklift trucks. But, what are the most common factors, and what can we do to avoid them? This blog post aims to find out.
What are the Contributing Factors?
If you own a company or you’re in charge of the health and safety arrangements, then you need to be fully aware of any potential hazards. In the workplace, there will always be hazards, and the trick remains successfully managing these to ensure staff are as safe as possible.
To try and limit these issues, you need to categorise them and create a plan to deal with them accordingly. These factors can include:
- A lack of staff training or knowledge
- Production factors
- A lack of (or problem with) some of the tools necessary
- Poor maintenance of a forklift
- The age of the forklift
To simplify the matter, issues can either be categorised as: human error, or technical error. By coming up with two plans to cover both aspects, you can effectively safeguard your business against problems such as this. Of course, as we have already mentioned, you cannot eliminate the prospect of an accident entirely, but you can go some way to eradicating most of them. But, once you have a plan, what’s the best way to put it into action?
Create a Plan, Put it into Action
Having a plan is all well and good, but unless your staff members are aware of it, then it holds very little value. The best way to implement a plan is to hold wide ranging staff training sessions, ensuring that everyone is up to speed with the new protocol.
After all, if you only do forklift training with your staff as soon as they begin work, then it is likely that they’ll have slipped into bad habits/ forgotten much of what they were told since they started. By jogging their memory on what is and isn’t acceptable, it is likely that you’ll lower the risk of an accident occurring.
Nowadays, companies online such as European Handling Equipment even have guides online to help staff, so gathering the materials for a short training course really shouldn’t be an issue.
But What About the Technology?
Even once you’ve trained your staff, you still need to be wary of the quality of the equipment that you’re using. If you’re equipment is becoming dated then it is vital that you get it checked out. If it doesn’t meet the required standard, then scrap it straight away.
Replacing your machinery may be an expensive process, but it can save you thousands of pounds if you get sued by an employee for negligence, so it is well worth it in the long run. When it comes to health and safety, there really is no price too big to pay, so readdress your strategy today and make sure your employees are safe, limiting their risk.