Did you know that there is no reliable national data in the UK on incidents involving forklifts and other manual handling accidents?  Data is currently fragmented and relies on many different organisations recording these incidents and the HSE has to then collate this information.

Now, the UK Material Handling Association (UKMHA) has launched its industry-first Incident Reporting Portal, which will capture and analyse vital information about the causes of accidents and ways to prevent them occurring in future in one central place.

They are urging all warehouse operatives and manual handling professionals to join in and play their part in reducing accidents by logging incidents on their new online platform.  This will then capture and analyse vital information about the causes of accidents and ways to prevent them occurring in future.

Why do we need this data?

Without accurate statistics, the scale and nature of accidents remain unclear, making it difficult to target improvements in training, site practices, or even machine design.

The UKMHA has made a significant investment in its new portal which aims to fill the knowledge gap. By encouraging businesses to upload information on accidents, near misses and unsafe occurrences, the association can build a clearer picture of the risks faced daily by professionals.

David Goss, UKMHA Technical Director, said: “If we are to improve safety around material handling equipment, then we must gather as much information as we can into the circumstances surrounding incidents. Only by doing this can we hope to understand why accidents occur and make the necessary improvements thereafter. This portal is not about blame – it’s about creating solutions.”

Open to everyone who works in the material handling industry, the portal provides a simple, confidential way to report incidents. Users are asked to share details such as the circumstances leading up to the incident, the type of equipment involved and the severity of any injuries. Even seemingly minor issues, such as near misses or damage-only events, can provide valuable insights.

All data is submitted anonymously, and every report is reviewed by UKMHA staff with the utmost privacy. Reports are not intended to replace legal requirements such as RIDDOR submissions, nor will they trigger follow-up action unless specifically requested. Instead, the information will be aggregated to identify wider industry trends.

The UKMHA is urging safety managers, supervisors and anyone else with knowledge of an incident to use the portal. Contributors are reminded to include a time, date, and partial postcode to help avoid duplicate entries, and to refrain from including personal names or company details.

Rob Fisher, Chief Executive of UKMHA, reinforced the urgency of industry participation, adding: “Knowledge is power, but only if it is shared. Every report submitted, no matter how small, has the potential to help prevent future accidents. Safety never sleeps, and with industry support we can make a real difference”.

To access the portal, and for more information about it, please visit https://nationalforkliftsafetyday.co.uk/about-the-incident-reporting-portal/

We wholeheartedly support the UKMHA in their efforts to make every day Forklift Safety Day, and our accredited training helps us by improving operator safety, one forklift operator at a time.  For information on our accredited forklift courses – please see here.

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.

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.