by Richard Colligan | Dec 10, 2021 | Employment & skills, Industry news, RTITB, Training courses
Did you know that there are on average 35,000 serious injuries and 85 deaths each year as a result of poor safety whilst operating a Forklift Truck? This frightening statistic shows just how dangerous these 4,000kg machines are, especially when those operating do not have adequate training.
However, the majority of these accidents are preventable when both operators and supervisors become aware of the potential hazards and know what they can do to reduce the risks. This is where we come in! Below, are the top 4 major FLT hazards and what you can to do avoid them.
1. Obstacles
Obstacles obstructing the operators view is a hazard that may seem obvious but way too many accidents happen as a result of an untidy warehouse. Some possible obstacles in a warehouse include; pallets, stocks, pipes, poles and barriers.
To significantly reduce the chances of an accident, operators and supervisors need to ensure they are checking for any obstacles that could impede the forklift before and whilst operating. Either by moving these potential obstructions or simply being aware of them, the chances that they will cause an accident, massively decreases.
2. Forklift overturning
Overturning is the leading cause of serious fatalities and deaths when operating a forklift. In fact, overturning is responsible for 25% of accidents.
Turning or stopping too quickly, an unbalanced load, loads that are too heavy or high along with uneven and wet surfaces are all possible causes of a forklift overturning.
The best way to prevent these accidents is adequate training that includes; which surfaces trucks are designed for, at what point the truck becomes ‘overloaded’, speed limits, securing a load and more. However, if an accident does occur where the forklift overturns the operator should NEVER try to jump out of the vehicle and instead brace themselves against the back of the seat and hold on firmly.
3. Attachments
Attachments can be a hazard for several reasons as a change in maintenance, capacity and adjusting to different types of attachments can all cause potential hazards. The main hazard occurs when attachments are subject to poor maintenance. Stretched chains, worn out forks and other run-down areas all increase your risk of injuries.
4. Blind spots
A blind spot is when the operator cannot see past something that is blocking their view. Some common situations when this is likely to occur are; when weather conditions are poor, the lighting of the warehouse is insufficient or the forklift has a full load.
To reduce the risks, employees should direct pedestrians or other employees away from potential blind spots or, if possible, block off the whole area. If this cannot be done, drivers should have a ‘spotter’ when maneuvering around blind spots.
A dangerous hazard that could arise from blind spots is workers being struck or crushed. Having a traffic management plan where for example workers follow a one-way system or barriers are put in place is as good way to avoid this issue. In the instance that this does happen however, then immediately call 111.
What next?
Does your warehouse/organisation want to make sure you have the best level of training to avoid, prevent and deal with incidents when they occur?
Key Performance Training should be your forklift centre of choice! Based in Swindon but covering all of Wiltshire and surrounding areas, we offer forklift training in the optimum standard and that prioritises safety in the workplace.
Contact our Head Trainer David Gearon today; David.gearon@keyperformancetraining.com
To reduce the risks, the operator and supervisors should have a full understanding of the capacity limits and safety protocols on each individual attachment used. Also, before starting a job, the truck should be thoroughly checked to ensure everything is safe and not worn out.
by Richard Colligan | Nov 26, 2021 | Employment & skills, Industry news, Training courses
Did you know we offer First Aid Training Courses?
Before we tell you more, it is important to understand the benefits that First Aid Training can have on an organisations and its employees. Below are 4 of the main benefits, however they do not stop there, the advantages are endless!
1. First Aid Training Saves life’s.
Do you and/or your company want to be completely prepared to deal with any incident in the workplace?
If the answer is yes, you are on the right track to safety!
This could be the most self explanatory benefit for most, but often individuals and companies underestimate the impact that First Aid Training has on the reduction of serious incidents and even death in the workplace.
2. Cost effective
Some may neglect adequate First Aid Training due to unwanted costs that may seem ‘pointless’.
However , when you begin to realise that the cost of a course is nothing compared to the damage caused for the company and loved ones when there is an accident or death in the workplace.
3. Increases workplace morale.
This may seem like a surprising benefit of First Aid Training but it is actually proven to boost morale in companies for several reasons, including;
- Makes employees feel they are cared for by their organisation.
- Helps employees look out for each other which will bring them closer.
- Learning skills that can also be used outside of work makes employees feel they have accomplished more in their role.
4. Keeps employees safe outside of work.
The skills you learn in First Aid Training are for life and can be used in a variety of different scenarios- in and out of the workplace.
You never know when a serious situation will arise and having the confidence that your employees will be able to deal with this in the most effective way is great for any company who care about there workers.
Interested to find out more?
The courses that we deliver in partnership with Tactical Tuition UK are designed to be informative, fun and engaging. Our aim is to create an optimum learning environment , with out First Aid training courses being run in-house, at your workplace or at a location that suits you.
Regulated by Ofqual, under their Regulated Quality Framework, accredited by the FAA and FutureQuals – our courses provide accountable, quality assured, practical knowledge, backed up by real-world experience from our trainers.
For more information please contact;
david.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk
by Richard Colligan | Nov 15, 2021 | Employment & skills, Industry news, RTITB, Training courses
One of the most common questions we get asked is; ‘Which course would be best suited for me?’. This is a question our trainers LOVE to hear as it shows you are dedicated to getting the most out of a course. The more dedicated to learn you are, the better your chances of starting your pathway to employment.
It is crucial that we get a full understanding of your experience and your aspirations from a course for many reasons;
- You are happy with the speed and detail of the course.
- We can put you on a course with delegates who are at a similar level/experience to you.
- Avoid last-minute changes where we decide to move you onto a different course.
- You leave the course happy that the qualification you gained will be useful in your employment journey (leads you to find work, a promotion or just to meet safety regulations in a current role).
Are you wondering that exact question of ‘Which course should I do?’ Below is questionnaire for you to get a rough idea.
Experienced Courses;
So now we can ask you, what course should you do?
- Novice Courses;
- Brief Description-Our RTITB Reach or CB novice courses are for those with little or no experience operating forklifts.
- Duration- 3-5 days
- Price- £650+VAT
2. Experienced Courses;
- Brief Description- Our RTITB Reach or CB experienced courses are for existing operators with some previous experience but who have not had the benefit of adequate, formal lift truck training.
- Duration- 3 Days
- Price- £400 + VAT
3. Conversion Courses;
- Brief Description-Our RTITB Reach and CB conversion courses are aimed at current certified lift truck operators who are wishing to convert their current driving qualification and skills to include a different type of truck.
- Duration- 2 Days
- Price- £285+VAT
4. Refresher Courses;
- Brief Description- Our RTITB Reach and CB refresher courses are for those operators with documentary evidence of basic training and who wish to renew their certification to use a CB truck.
- Duration- 1 Day
- Price- £140+VAT
Still undecided on which course is for you? Head over to the ‘course content’ section of our website to find out some more details about what each course entails.
by Richard Colligan | Oct 22, 2021 | Employment & skills, Industry news, Training courses
Cross- training employees can be a catalyst to a huge improvement in workforce productivity of any business. Here are the 5 main benefits of cross-training in the warehouse sector, however the advantages do not stop here, they are endless!
What does it mean to cross train an employee?
Cross-training is building the skills of your employees so that they can work in several different roles and carry out tasks even if they aren’t part of their main daily responsibilities. As a result, you, as the employer, can increase productivity in the workplace by making the maximum use out of the latent talents and skillsets of your employees.
For example, when summer is approaching and people are rushing into travel agents to book their last-minute holidays, if employees who usually handle telephone customer service enquiries are also trained to handle walk-in customers, then the travel agency will be more able to handle the increased demand.
Similarly, in the warehouse sector if someone in your team who usually works in production work could also operate forklift trucks you could move them temporarily to the loading team if there is a spike in demand. This prevents orders falling behind and increases the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your team.
Cross-training, specifically in the warehouse sector, is something that gets spoken about more than it is actually implemented. What is the main reason for that? Because people are simply unaware of the multitude of gain generated from this method. Hopefully after reading this blog post, you will be part of the percentage who are aware of the benefits, and will be tempted to use that knowledge to your advantage!
1. Great return on investment
The key to cross-training making a great return on investment is realising that the talent you are trying to outsource is most likely already within your business. Once you’ve had this realisation and act upon it, you are likely to see ways to boost to your bottom line.
2. Improved employee retention
A study conducted at the university of Warwick via Forbes found that on average, happy and engaged employees are 12% more productive than their unhappy counterparts. Cross-training has a significant effect on individual employee happiness because with a broader range of skills employees will feel as though they are being invested in and in return will become more engaged. Continuously focusing on the skillset of your existing employees rather than trying to recruit new employees with prior qualifications, will keep long term employees more committed to stick around.
3. Reduced impacts when employees are absent
This is a fairly straightforward benefit but often people do not realise the extent of a positive impact having cross-trained employees can have when absence occurs. For example, if your business has 10 employees and each of them have a total of 25 holidays per year that would be a total of 250 days a year where at least 1 person’s list of responsibilities are not getting completed. Does that sound efficient to you?
When your work-force is “cross-fit”, you will be able to substitute somebody from a less busy shift or a different sector who has the knowledge to cover for the absent employee. As a result, a significant increase to the number of responsbilities and tasks that are being completed will arise and the productiveness\output of the company will expand.
Ideally, even in a small company, you would have three people or more who could do any single job – even if only to ‘hold the fort’ professionally for a shift or a day. There is a direct link between the competency of your people and the confidence your customers have in you as a supplier.
4. Better employee collaboration
There are two types of employees. Those who have just expertise in one area (not cross-trained) and those who have expertise in one particular aspect but also still have a broad knowledge of other aspects in the company (cross-trained). When you are the non-cross trained type of employee you are hyper-focused to that one particular area and therefore find it difficult to collaborate with those in other sectors of your company.
Good collaboration is crucial within a company as it allows you and a team to solve problems together, speeding up the process of finishing a task and avoiding breakdowns in communication.
5. Makes your company more agile
The actual process of cross-training employees may reveal areas of strengths and weaknesses in employees. Throughout the on-the-job-training hidden talents and strengths may be revealed that means people would work better in another area or field of the business. You can then change people around accordingly. This makes your company more agile and responsive to change as-well as increasing flexibility when needing to fill last minute absences.
Being an agile company has a range of benefits such as more resilience, quicker decision making, more collaborative and also quick mobilization.
How Key Performance Training can help your business with cross-training
Key Performance Training based in Swindon and RTITB Approved, can unlock your potential with novice, refresher, experienced courses in Forklift Training, First Aid, Health and Safety and Fire Marshall Training, amongst others, at regular times throughout the year in a specifically designed training centre or on-site at your own location if you prefer. From individual training to large scale corporate roll outs.
For more information email us at mia.davies@keyperformancetraining.co.uk
by Richard Colligan | Sep 23, 2021 | Employment & skills, Industry news, Training courses
No matter if you’re working in a warehouse as a forklift operator or an office as an administrator, there are always possible dangers. You need to be aware of them and act immediately to ensure the safety of yourself and other colleagues. When I say ‘aware’, I don’t mean this lightly. There is a huge difference between being aware and being actively aware. Being just ‘aware’ often leads to situations where it’s too late. When you are actively aware you can spot an issue and resolve it quickly before an incident occurs.
Safety professional and coach for better risk management strategies- David Gant took to his twitter to ask his large following one question.
“What is the one piece of safety advice you would give to a worker?”
The responses were excellent with so many acknowledging how dangerous working in warehouse environments can be and having safety as their number 1 priority when at work. We want to share this advice with you in hope that it will help at least one person change their mindset on the importance of safety at work.
- “Don’t do a job that you aren’t qualified to do, and do the jobs that you are qualified to do according to the process”.
More commonly than you would think, warehouse managers and supervisors cut corners and allow unqualified workers or those without refreshed licenses to operate forklift trucks. This is when accidents will occur. Even if you have been given permission to operate a truck this does not mean it is safe and as many experienced operators would tell you; it’s never as easy as it looks.
- “Would you let your most loved one ‘be there’ ‘do that’ ‘take that chance’. If it’s not good enough for them; it isn’t good enough for you! You are important to them too”
Every time you get on the truck without inspecting, walk round a corner without making yourself known, drive too fast to get a job done or become complacent in any way, think to yourself; would I be happy for the one I love most to do what I am doing? If the answer to that question is no, don’t do it. It really is that simple.
- “You can’t just talk the talk, make safety a priority.”
Now a piece of advice for all managers and supervisors; the costs of accidents that could occur due to a lack of safety are never worth the time saved by not putting in place and adhering to safety measures. Read that again.
- “Never walk past an error”
We all make mistakes and not everyone is going to be thinking of safety every second of the day. In your workplace, you should first work together and encourage one and other to make safety an individual number 1 priority. You should then work together to encourage each other to make the safety of others a second priority. This way, even if the individual isn’t on their safety ‘A game’ there will always be back up to correct their errors.
Important- you should never assume that someone is going to correct your errors and act at all times as though you are in complete control of your own and everyone else’s safety.
- “If you aren’t sure it’s safe, it probably isn’t”
1. Trust your instinct.
2. Double check.
3. Report it.
Finally, here are a checklist of questions you should ask yourself;
- Will doing it this way get me home safely?
- Do I need to have a break to prioritise safety?
- Would I let my loved ones take this chance?
- Am I following the companies safe work procedures?
- Is safety my number 1 priority?
Key Performance Training are a forklift training company based in Swindon who also cover areas around Wiltshire and the South west. As an RTITB accredited centre, safety is genuinely a number one priority of the business and all delegates who complete a forklift training course should also take on this mindset.
For any enquiries get in contact;
Email- mia.davies@keyperformancetraining.co.uk
Phone- +447570 899000
by Richard Colligan | Sep 10, 2021 | Employment & skills, Industry news, RTITB, Training courses
Although lift trucks are safe machines, every day workers are injuring themselves due to unsafe operating. Even those who have had the highest level of forklift training find themselves in crucial accidents as a result of getting too comfortable and loosing concentration.
As an RTITB accredited training company, safety is our number 1 priority and we hope that after completing a course with us it will be yours too. At Key Performance Training, we believe that the first step in avoiding mistakes is to be aware and educated on the possible mistakes you can make, especially the most common ones.
Here are the 4 most deadly mistakes you can make when operating a forklift truck. However, all it takes is one mistake; so don’t let it be you.
1. Driving with an elevated load
Many experienced operators believe they can get away with driving the truck with an elevated load and so do not bother to lower the forks. This is a huge mistake to make and is one of the most common causes of fatal injuries and deaths in forklift operating.
When the truck has a higher centre of gravity, it becomes much less stable meaning one fast turn can cause the truck to tip over and potentially crush the driver on its way down.
Reminder- if you do find yourself in a situation where your forklift has overturned you should always lean in the opposite direction to the way the truck is tipping rather than attempting to escape before the truck overturns.
2. Not inspecting the forklift truck
Inspections need to be a thorough procedure that is carried out each time the forklift is used. It only takes a matter of minutes but could potentially save lives. Some of the areas that should be a part of your daily inspection include; the tyres, brake and transmission fluids, loose parts or leaks, instrument and pedals.
Check out our other blogs for more in detail information about the importance of carrying out pre-op checks and the ones that are often forgotten.
3. Operating with a non- secured load
Non- secured loads are just an accident waiting to happen. Many operators are aware of the consequences but carry on risking it and don’t secure loads before operating. Yes, at times you could get away with it and yes your friend may have gotten away with it but when it goes wrong it won’t be you suffering but someone else in your workplace who has been struck by this load due to your negligence.
4. Blind spots
Blind spots in busy warehouses are something that is impossible to avoid, the actual mistake here is a miscommunication between workers. Not only are forklifts dangerous for the operator, they also cause great danger to other works and pedestrians. The best way to avoid this is by maintaining good communication at all times.
As workers in a warehouse, you need to be sure to follow the correct safety procedures, signs , signals. As operators, you need to enable the workers to follow these procedures by making sure your sound and light signals are working before moving and also that you are staying within the zones.
