Lift Truck Training
Many industries utilize powered industrial trucks for material handling. In the recycling business, internal combustion powered forklifts are popular. Lift truck operation requires well trained operators. In North America, training is a requirement, and for good reason. A forklift could inflict personal injury or serious damage to property if not operated safely. A forklift which is loaded can weight three times as much as an automobile. Lift trucks are responsible for numerous industrial accidents, either as the secondary or the primary source of the accident. Reports of fatalities or injuries involving operators or pedestrians are all too commonplace.
Training Requirement
Employers should develop and implement a training program for operators based on four factors: the general principles of safe truck operation, the types of vehicles being used within the workplace, the certain hazards of the workplace and the general safety requirements, according to OSHA. Training combines both practical and formal components. At the completion of the training, operators should pass an assessment showing they have the ability to operate the truck properly. OSHA also requires that operators of powered industrial trucks should be trained in certain specified subject matters which apply to safely operating a lift truck.