Maintaining safety through Thorough Examination
March 1st 2008 Between 2001/02 and
2005/06, the HSE recorded
21,190 injuries involving fork
lift trucks, of which 94 were fatal,
5758 major and 15,338 resulted in
absences from work of 3 or more
days. On average fork lift trucks are
involved in 24% of all workplace
transport accidents.
BITA, the British Industrial Truck
Association, plays a key role in the
promotion of the maintenance of
safe fork lift operation, working in
close liaison with safety authorities
such as the HSE, as well as
producing pocket-sized definitive
books on safety.
James Clark, secretary general,
says: "We saw that what was
needed was a portable best
practice guide that operators
themselves can carry with them for
instant reference and checklists
before starting work and to
account for all eventualities during
the working day. The contents of
our safety booklets should be
observed as the Highway Code is
observed on the roads. The BITA
booklets are also valuable as an
aide-mémoire for users who adopt
a continuous 'on-the-job' approach
to operator training, which
increases accountability."
BITA sells its booklets to enduser
organisations seeking to
ensure the safe use of fork-lift
trucks in their everyday business.
These are available to order at
www.bita.org.uk/cart/index.asp.
BITA members receive 20%
discount.
There are also significant sales
to industrial truck manufacturers
themselves, for example every
Merlo handler comes complete
with copies of BITA's 'red book'
and 'blue book'.
Of course, safety starts with a
safe vehicle, and all industrial
trucks are subject to inspection
under the Provision and Use of
Work Equipment Regulations 1998;
no further investigations are
required for low lift trucks and lowlift
order pickers (with a maximum
operator platform height of
900mm).
All other lift truck types also
require a Thorough Examination -
according to LOLER 98 regulation
9. Thorough Examination checks
are similar to MoT tests and must
be carried out on a regular basis.
It is a legal requirement that
applies to every fork-lift truck in
service, including hired trucks.
Unlike an MOT however, it applies
to trucks as little as one year old.
The user is responsible for
ensuring that the truck has been
tested and examined. For peace of
mind and full legal compliance,
operators can choose a Thorough
Examination provider accredited by
the CFTS Thorough Examination
scheme, in which BITA is a joint
stakeholder. More articles from BITA: | 
