The HSE has recently published the figures for work related fatalities in the UK for the period April 2022 – March 2023.

Sadly, 135 workers were killed during this period, with the highest number of deaths in the construction industry (45), with agriculture, forestry, and fishing (21), manufacturing (15), and transportation and storage (15). Agriculture, forestry, and fishing has the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers of all the main industrial sectors followed by waste and recycling.

Here at Key Performance Training, we talk about the risks of driving a forklift truck badly every week.

It’s part of our course material and we often post about the dreadful accidents and incidences involving forklifts to raise awareness of the consequences and the risks associated with the equipment we train on.

Unfortunately though, thousands of workers are still being injured by them every year and 1 in 5 workplace fatalities were caused by moving vehicles in 2021.

And these statistics are on the rise.

We’d like to share with you the firsthand experience of someone who is living with exactly the consequences – Lisa Ramos.

Lisa was hit by a forklift truck on the 24th March 2006. This is a date that is engraved on her memory forever. Not because it was the date of her only son’s 13th birthday, but because it was the day she became an ‘amputee’. Here, she tells the story of how one tragic moment in time has caused a lifetime of heartache and devastated generations of her family.

Click here to view Lisa’s story – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ccNx0SvNkY

If you’re driving a forklift without proper training, or you supervise people who do, you could be breaking the law, and putting others at risk of serious, life-changing or life-threatening injuries.

For a full list of our courses, please see our website – https://keyperformancetraining.co.uk/ and see how we can help you get the right training to minimise the risks of this happening to someone else.

We thank Lisa for sharing her story with us all.  Today Lisa is a guest speaker at health and safety conferences and employer events, alongside her husband, David Garton. Together, they raise awareness about the hidden costs of workplace accidents and the devasting impact it can have on the family, friends and colleagues of the victim.

Tuesday 13th June is National Forklift Safety Day, and this year’s theme is “Safe Sites Save Lives’.

According to the HSE’s Workplace Fatal Injuries in Great Britain report, published in July 2022, 123 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2021/22, with around a quarter of these (30) consigned to the Construction sector. The Transportation & Storage sector, which includes Warehousing & Logistics, shows 16 deaths.

The most common fatal industrial accident constitutes falls from height, accounting for 29 of the total number of deaths in the period. The second most common fatal industrial accident involved people being struck by a moving vehicle, followed by people being struck by a flying/falling object, contact with machinery and then trapped by something collapsing or overturning.

The risks associated with such incidents could be reduced if correct risk assessments are carried out, along with improved operator training and supervision, increased use of safety infrastructure and automation.

“Anyone with a stake in this important industry will recognise the importance of keeping workers safe and we hope National Forklift Safety Day will encourage more organisations to audit their safety protocols to ensure they remain compliant at all times” said David Goss, Technical Director of UKMHA (UK Material Handling Association).

Have you or your drivers had adequate forklift training?  Do you have records to show what training they have had and that it’s in date? Would you be confident that in the event of an incident, you could provide evidence of that training and that it was sufficient and compliant?  Have you had some near misses involving operators driving poorly?

There are lots of training companies and trainers out there offering courses, but the quality of that training can vary greatly. To ensure that any training you invest in is of a high standard and is HSE compliant, then you should use an accredited training company.  Our RTITB accreditation ensures that our training is legally compliant, of a high standard and operators only pass our courses if they are competent to do operate.

We offer a huge range of forklift training courses in our centre, or we can come to you to deliver training at your site.  Please see our forklift training webpage – https://keyperformancetraining.co.uk/flt-courses-rtitb-forklift-training-swindon-and-nationwide-counterbalance-reach-bendi-telescopic/#

If you want to ensure that you or your organisation are compliant and if you take the safety of those who operate on and around forklift trucks seriously, then contact to us about how our accredited training can help you.