The Most Common Forklift Accidents and How to Avoid Them

Although a forklift can make all manner of tasks easy, driving a large and heavy machine around a worksite brings with it its own set of risks. Knowing what these risks are and working to avoid them is essential to maintaining the highest levels of health and safety on your worksite. As such, this month we’ll be breaking down the most common forklift accidents and showing you how you can avoid them to minimise risks on your worksite.

Poor Maintenance of Forklifts

The poor maintenance of forklift materials can unnecessarily lead to a serious accident. A regular service should be carried out on a forklift, especially if it is used frequently to move heavy goods. There are a multitude of difficulties your forklift could encounter – ensuring they are seen to and properly maintained should remedy issues before they become more problematic.

Unsuitable and Insufficient Road Markings and Warnings

Without adequate warning signs and road markings, forklift operators and those on a worksite are put at great risk. Warnings and markings let forklift operators know important information pertaining to the worksite. These include speed limits, direction of traffic and more. A poorly signed area is one where accidents are more likely to occur, so use proper signage.

Speeding and Toppling

Extra care should be taken to drive the forklift appropriately around the worksite. Reaction times are slower at higher speeds, making it more likely that you’ll be involved in an incident. What’s more, if you have loaded the forklift and fail to keep it as low to the ground as possible, you risk toppling the forklift. Keep the load positioned as low as you can and drive at an appropriate speed.

Horseplay

Work can be stressful, and one way that workers tend to cope with that stress is by having a bit of fun. However, you should think twice before involving the forklift in your horseplay. Forklifts, if used incorrectly, have the potential to seriously harm you and those around you. They should only be used professionally, and the horseplay should be kept to the staffroom.

Inexperienced/Poorly Trained Drivers

Above all else, the reason most common for forklift accidents involves inexperience and poor training. An operator who knows how to handle a forklift expertly will be far less likely to cause or be involved in an accident than one who is either poorly trained or not trained at all. Therefore, it pays to have extensive and appropriate training before operating a forklift, and that’s where Euro 1 Training come in.

Euro 1 Training offer high quality forklift training courses given by fully trained and experienced course leaders. We work on a flexible basis to fit around your current commitments, even offering weekend or intensive courses, and our private practice area makes handling tricky manoeuvres much more stress free!

To make things even easier, Euro 1 Training are now a DVSA Test Centre, so on top of taking your course here, you can pass your test as well. Our tests are conducted around the local area. Whether you’re after an intensive one week training course or hourly lessons, you can rely on Euro 1 Training. Get in contact today for more information on any of our services – we’ll be happy to help in any way we can.