MHE Incident Reporting Portal: Turning accidents into insights

The lack of reliable national data on incidents and accidents involving material handling equipment has hampered meaningful improvements to workplace safety.

The new Incident Reporting Portal aims to collect information about incidents so as to identify causes and contributory factors, thus enabling effective targeted safeguarding measures.

Pushing for a higher standard

As the national accreditation scheme for Thorough Examinations, CFTS aims to create a safer industry which looks after businesses and workers. Thorough Examinations are crucial for compliance with the law, but they can also prevent costly accidents from happening on work sites all around the UK by identifying mechanical issues prior to failure.

However, we also understand that incidents can happen irrespective of Thorough Examination status. That’s where the brand-new UKMHA Incident Reporting Portal comes in. 

CFTS parent company, UKMHA, has set up a reporting system where users can detail accidents, incidents and near-misses involving MHE that have occurred on any site. The Association is clear that this does not replace any statutory reporting duty for serious incidents and that no enforcement action will be taken from the input given in this portal. However, it will help to identify key targets for improving safety both in MHE design and user processes.  

"Because there is a lack of data in relation to incidents where MHE is involved, it becomes very hard to know the true nature of accidents," explained UKMHA CEO Rob Fisher.

The MHE Incident Reporting Portal is available to everyone who works with forklifts and other lifting equipment as well as those involved in the material handling industry. This is a simple and confidential way to share experiences and identify areas of improvement. It provides businesses and individuals with the opportunity to report forklift incidents without feeling as though they are whistleblowing. "Ultimately, together we can all play a key role in helping make our sector safer," he added.

What does this mean for CFTS?

The portal is created for the whole industry to use, which in turn will help CFTS in setting higher standards.

"The new Incident Reporting Portal will help us to get a better understanding of the causes of accidents and then we can target our safety messaging and campaigns. For example, if we find that a certain mechanical fault is a repeat offender, we can stress the importance of checking that area to our accredited examiners," stated CFTS director David Goss. 

"It will also help us to ensure that our training course content aligns with the portal analysis so that we can continue to ensure the highest standard of Thorough Examination is being delivered by our examiners."

See the UKMHA Incident Reporting Portal here  

CFTS established a national standard for Thorough Examinations in the UK fork lift truck industry. For more details, please visit www.thoroughexamination.org or call 01344 623 800.