RTITB’s Useful Lift Truck Training Guide

RTITB’s Useful Lift Truck Training Guide

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RTITB’s Useful Lift Truck Training Guide

As a proud partner of RTITB, we’ve got access to some of the finest training materials in our industry, so we are delighted to share with you this extremely useful guide they have produced for all businesses where lift trucks are in operation.

This simple guide explains that there are several steps to ensuring safe and efficient operations using lift trucks and enables you to check that you have everything in place to ensure your operators are skilled correctly, and that your business is compliant.

RTITB Lift Truck Training Guide

Safe and skilled operators result in a reduction in operation costs, so you can improve safety for your staff and save money at the same time.

Common misconceptions.

A lot of businesses think that once they have trained their operators on how the truck works, then they are ready to start operating on site.

However, there are 3 stages to this training, and if your training was carried out by an external training provider like us, then the second and third stages are often missed.

You must carry out specific job training, which enables the operator to learn the specifics about the trucks you have on site, and you must then carry out familiarisation training, which enables the operator to try out live work under supervision in your own premises.

Then and only then should your business issue them an Authorisation to operate.  This is a formal record of the stages of training your operators have gone through and the operations they are able to undertake in your business.

The guide explains all of this in detail and will point you to further information if you need it.  And it also explains the three types of training that are required after your initial training.

If you are interested in our wide range of lift truck training courses for your operators, then please click here for more information.

We hope this resource is of interest to you, and we’re always here to help if you have any questions about operator training.

Contact us on 01793 975353 or office@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch.

You can reach us via our contacts page, via email or just give us a call on 01793 975353

National Forklift Safety Day 2025

National Forklift Safety Day 2025

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National Forklift Safety Day 2025

Here at Key Performance Training, we try to increase the standards of operating Material Handling Equipment (MHE) in the UK by offering high quality operator training, so we are naturally delighted to support another National Forklift Safety Day on Tuesday 10th June 2025.

Regarded as one of the UK material handling sector’s leading safety initiatives, National Forklift Safety Day (NFSD) highlights best practice for MHE use to reduce the risk of accidents and ensure safe workplaces for everyone.

This year’s campaign is focussing on the emotional impact a serious accident can have on the people involved, be they friends and family or colleagues and co-workers.

Such incidents can have profound effects, often life-changing, and by recognising the human cost of such events, the UKMHA is committed to getting employers and employees to prioritise safety at work.

But they are also highlighting 3 top tips that we urge all employers, operators and those who work around MHE to think about every day when they move around forklifts.

A Painted Line Isn’t Enough

Unbuckled? Are you ready for the fallout?

Is your PPE going unused?

To properly protect those who have to walk around MHE, the safest barriers are physical ones.

If your forklift trucks have seatbelts fitted – use them.  They may save your life in the event of an accident.

PPE is provided to keep you and others safe, so don’t leave it on the peg.

While the initiative’s theme evolves each year, its core aim remains the same: to make every day National Forklift Safety Day.

Ensure your staff are properly trained, with one of our regulated RTITB accredited courses

#NationalForkliftSafetyDay     #NFSD2025

Contact us on 01793 975353 or office@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch.

You can reach us via our contacts page, via email or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Celebrating our 7th year anniversary

Celebrating our 7th year anniversary

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Celebrating our 7th year anniversary

We are delighted to share with you that on Wednesday 12th March, we celebrated the 7th year anniversary of our first course.

So much has changed since then.  We’ve moved premises three times, expanded each time into larger facilities, we’ve survived COVID and all the challenges that brought, we’ve extended our course range from just Counterbalance and Reach trucks, to over 50 courses now on offer, and have managed to help an increasing number of businesses improve site safety and meet their HSE obligations.

We’ve also managed to help a huge number of individuals improve their skills and find better employment opportunities.  This has been helped greatly by the partnership we have with New College, Swindon, which has helped us reach those out of work or on low incomes attain skills that make them in demand in our region.

Training Data from 2018 – 2025 YTD:

  • Delegates trained – 1,055
  • Businesses worked with – 150
  • Certificates issued – 1,535

The one thing that hasn’t changed, however, is our commitment to ensuring the highest standards of training are delivered to all our customers.  You can be certain that no matter what course you book with us, you’ll get the best quality training around.

If you’d like to see what some of our customers think, then please visit our website and see their thoughts. 

Each year brings new joy and we’re so thankful to have had the absolute privilege of working with everyone we’ve trained with over the last seven years.

We’re really looking forward to the future and will continue to stay true to our mission: to understand your needs and to support you, whoever you are, and whatever you need.

Contact us on 01793 975353 or office@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch.

You can reach us via our contacts page, via email or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Metal firm fined after injured worker loses leg

Metal firm fined after injured worker loses leg

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Metal firm fined after injured worker loses leg

A metal fabrication company has been fined £40,000 after an employee suffered a serious leg fracture that led to a below the knee amputation.

The 37-year-old man and a colleague had been loading a steel beam onto the bed of a lorry in the visitors’ car park of London Gates and Railings Ltd in Watford on 30 August 2022. His colleague was operating a forklift truck (FLT) with the steel beam suspended from it using a sling attachment

The man had been walking ahead of it using his hands to stabilise the beam. However, as the FLT moved forwards, the man’s foot was caught by the front wheel of the FLT resulting in serious injuries to his lower leg.

At the time of the accident members of the public were present in the visitors’ car park. The man’s injuries were so serious he had to have surgery to have the lower part of his leg amputated.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that London Gates and Railings Ltd failed to properly assess the risk for loading lorries and provide a suitable safe system of work.

Additionally, the FLT operator had not been trained and access to and use of the FLT was not adequately controlled. There were also inadequate measures in place to segregate pedestrians, including members of the public, from workplace transport and associated lifting operations.

London Gates and Railings Ltd of Guillmore Farm, Sandy Lane, Watford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £5,114 costs at a hearing at St. Albans Magistrates Court on 10 December 2024.

HSE Inspector Adam Johnson said: “Incidents involving fork lift trucks (FLT’s) and work place transport remain one of the most common causes of work-related accidents in this country.

“In this case, a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk, together with a planned safe system of work should have been completed.

“Only workers who are trained and authorised should operate FLT’s. Access and use of them should be properly controlled. Adequate measures must also be in place to properly segregate pedestrians from workplace transport and associated operations”

Are you confident that your operators have the right level of training?  We offer courses for those with operating experience, but no formal training, so it’s never too late to get your staff correctly trained.

Please click here for our range of forklift courses.

We’re ready to help you keep your business safe for visitors and staff alike.

Contact us on 01793 975353 or office@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch.

You can reach us via our contacts page, via email or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Proud supporters of the Platform Project’s Epic Gameshow 2025

Proud supporters of the Platform Project’s Epic Gameshow 2025

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Proud supporters of the Platform Project’s Epic Gameshow 2025

We are delighted to announce that the wonderful non-profit organisation, The Platform Project are launching their black-tie fundraising event called The Epic Gameshow.

This annual event raises money to fund the amazing work they do helping disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in Swindon develop the skills, confidence and experience they need to launch their careers and to take sustainable steps towards a thriving future.

Tickets are available now for you and your business to attend and join in.  There is also corporate sponsorship available, discounts for table bookings and opportunities to donate money or prizes for their raffle.

We’ve got a table, so we’ll be there so come along and join us for – we’re looking forward to a great fun night with the chance to support a great cause.

For more information please view their brochure here

Contact us on 01793 975353 or office@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch.

You can reach us via our contacts page, via email or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Metal firm fined after injured worker loses leg

Company fined £400k after forklift breaks worker’s leg

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Company fined £400k after forklift breaks worker’s leg

A plastics manufacturer in Kent has been fined £400,000 for health and safety failings, after an employee was struck by a forklift truck, breaking his leg and ankle in several places.

The incident happened at FloPlast Limited’s site at Eurolink Business Park in Sittingbourne, on 4 July 2023. The worker was walking across the yard as a forklift truck came up behind him.

 

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation into the incident and found several failures in FloPlast’s safety management. The business had no documented safe system of work, and although employees thought there were measures in place, nobody followed them.

Further study of the CCTV footage revealed drivers and pedestrians regularly circulated in close proximity, and one-way traffic systems were ignored. Vehicles themselves had not been assessed to ensure they provided good visibility.

Management had failed to remind pedestrians and drivers about safe systems of work, and there was also no system to monitor legal compliance.

Appearing at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on 14 November 2024, FloPlast Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £400,000, as well as £5,567 in legal costs.

Commenting on the case, HSE Inspector Peter Bruce said:

“Poor vehicle and pedestrian segregation in the workplace is a common cause of fatal incidents and injuries. The employee in this instance suffered multiple fractures and has had to have a metal plate put into their leg which they will have for the rest of their life.

“Employers need to ensure that they have suitable measures in place to segregate out pedestrians and vehicles. This includes: the provision of safe systems of work, appropriate training procedures and systems for ensuring compliance with those measures.

“Where it is identified that employees are not following these measures, employers should consider the reasons behind this implementing further measures as appropriate to the risk.”

Make sure your site, supervisors and staff are all adequately trained with us.  We offer a huge range of courses designed to improve forklift operator safety: from high quality operator training courses to Managing and Supervising MHE Operations (e-learning).

To view our courses please click here and see how we can help improve site safety for everyone in 2025.

 

Contact us on 01793 975353 or office@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch – via our contacts page, email us or just give us a call on 01793 975353