Training

 According to WorkSafe Victoria, forklifts cause more workplace deaths and injuries than any other piece of equipment. Due to their heavy and large nature, forklifts are capable of resulting in serious injury or death even when travelling at low speeds.

For this reason, occupational health and safety standards are particularly important when it comes to forklift operation. If you are an employer who relies on the operation of forklifts to complete any aspect of your work – no matter how infrequently you use forklifts, and no matter how removed you are from forklift operation on a daily basis – it is imperative that you are aware of safe practice.

Ongoing training is both imperative and manditory. 

In each State and Territory in Australia, employers are responsible by law for providing:

• A safe work environment
• Safe systems of work
• Safe & well-maintained machinery
• Proper information, training & supervision

While OH&S forklift compliance is the legal responsibility of the employer to enforce, creating a safe work environment ultimately requires cooperation between managers and staff alike.

The first step to ensuring a safe work environment for your employees is to identify the types of hazards that are present. This includes both tangible threats (i.e. those presented by equipment or the physical work environment) as well as less visible threats (i.e. insufficient training, supervision or resources).

We’ll start by addressing the first of these potential hazards: physical threats.

Warehouses in which forklifts are operated must be properly laid out for safe operation. To achieve OH&S forklift compliance within your workplace, it is necessary to identify:

• The practical functions of your warehouse (e.g. storage & receiving goods)
• The risks that daily operations could present for both forklift operators & pedestrians

Signage is imperative to ensuring a safe work environment. All areas should be clearly signed to indicate their respective functions, and to make clear what can and cannot be done in these areas.

An important example to use would be the boundaries between pedestrian walkways, roadways and operating areas. Some tips to make sure these areas are OH&S forklift compliant include:

• Clearly marking all roadways & operating areas with bollards & barriers
• Marking all boundaries between pedestrian walkways, roadways & operating areas with speed limits
• Minimising any cross-flows & intersections to prevent risk to pedestrians & operators
• Ensuring forklift operators are wearing high visibility clothing within all traffic areas

Not overlooking the importance of appropriate safety footwear for your workers

Safe Systems of Work

It is impossible to eliminate all risk from forklift operation. By definition, it is a job that involves some risk. Rather than eliminating risk entirely, OH&S forklift compliance is focused on identifying and minimising hazards wherever possible.

To fulfil your OH&S duties as an employer, it is necessary to have safe work systems in place for when potential risks do arise. When this happens, it is your responsibility to take action to minimise or, if possible, eliminate the risk.

Hazards that you have identified within your workplace should be placed into one (or more) of the following categories, to minimise risk and achieve OH&S forklift compliance:

• Elimination: can you eliminate the hazard by, for example, removing the offending piece of equipment from operation?
• Engineering Controls/Isolation: could the risk be reduced by isolating or re-designing the offending piece of equipment?
• Administrative Controls: could the risk be reduced by, for example, limiting the amount of workers who have access to the offending area or piece of equipment? Or, alternately, could more adequate training lessen the hazard?
• Personal Protective Equipment: would providing employees with properly fitted protective equipment reduce the risk?

These four methods should always be prioritised, with emphasis on the most holistic, risk-reducing option. The most effective method will always (always!) be elimination; this should be prioritised above all else. Alternately, providing protective equipment for your forklift operators should always be the last resort, and only really used in conjunction with other risk-reduction methods.