Warehouse - United Kingdom Warehousing Association

16 Health & Safety In Association with ASG Services Ltd - www.warehousesafety.co.ukLIFT TRUCKSNot all Examinations are Thorough!Survey reveals that 93% of forklift truck owners “make wrong assumptions” over what is covered byThorough ExaminationA survey among companiesowning and operatingfork lift trucks hasfound that most ThoroughExaminations do not meetuser expectations.Indeed, a clear majority isconfused by what exactlyis included… and who isresponsible for makingsure a truck conforms tolegal requirements.The survey – conductedby Consolidated ForkTruck Services –involved telephone interviewswith truck usersthroughout the UK extendingacross a broad crosssectionof industrial classificationsand fleet sizes inorder to ensure a representativesample.On the positive side theresearch confirmed that aconcerted campaign hashad a dramatic impact onawareness of ThoroughExamination. Whenasked whether ThoroughExamination was a legalrequirement or merely“good practice” in a previous(2005) survey, aroundhalf (54%) answered correctly.Today, that numberhas risen to an impressive76%.Unfortunately, behindthat headline figure thereremains considerable confusionregarding what isactually included within aThorough Examination. Asa result, many tens ofthousands of managersand directors may beresponsible for equipmentthat simply isn’t beingexamined as thoroughlyas they had anticipated…For example the vastmajority of respondents –93% - incorrectly assumedthat any ThoroughExamination would automaticallyinclude aninspection of their truck’sbrakes as a matter ofcourse.According to SimonEmery, Chairman of CFTS,the body which commissionedthe research “Theconfusion arises because,unlike the MOT on a car,the requirements of aThorough Examination areopen to interpretation. Ineffect, the body providingthe inspection is able todecide what should andshouldn’t be included. Thenub of the problem is thatthe inspection of fork lifttrucks is governed by twoseparate pieces of legislation:Provision and Use ofWork EquipmentRegulations 1998 (PUWER98) and Lifting Operationsand Lifting EquipmentRegulations 1998 (LOLER98). However, an alarmingnumber of inspectorsonly include those itemscovered by LOLER – suchas mast, chains and forks– within their inspection.In doing so they totallyignore crucial areas suchas overhead guards,steering, brakes and othervital components… As aresult, managers anddirectors responsible forfork lift trucks may fallfoul of PUWER 98 legislationon ensuring the suitabilityof workplace equipment.”It was to overcome thisclearly untenable situationthat the two leadingorganisations in the forklift truck industry – theBritish Industrial TruckAssociation (BITA) and theFork Lift Truck Association(FLTA), with the support ofthe HSE – joined forces tocreate a single, nationalprocedure available totruck users, wherever theirindustry or location.The result is a comprehensiveprocedure andstrict code of practice, aprogramme of engineerand management trainingand the mechanism tomonitor standards underthe CFTS brand name.Companies accredited tothe scheme – and thereare around 400 of themcovering the length andbreadth of the UK – canbe identified via the distinctive“kite” certificationmark.“Customers need to beaware that all ThoroughExaminations are not theFebruary 2012www.ukwa.org.uk