The decision to extend the UK’s annual National Forklift Safety Day (NFSD) campaign for 2024 in support of their ambition to ‘Make Every Day National Forklift Safety Day’ has proved to be a major success, the UK Material Handling Association (UKMHA) has said. Spreading the safety campaign over the seven-month period between June and December enabled extra detail to be provided in support of the key messages, heightening the important theme behind the national event.
When NFSD was launched in 2019 it was with the intention of highlighting a particular safety theme, complementing UKMHA’s ethos of lifting safety standards throughout the material handling sector.
Previous campaigns focused on issues including seat belt use, the segregation of workers from workplace vehicles, Thorough Examination (the material handling industry’s equivalent to a MoT test) and the importance of Operator Training and Supervision. Material from previous years remains relevant and freely available for download from the National Forklift Safety Day website.
In 2024, UKMHA added longevity to the event, thereby enabling greater detail to be provided in support of the key themes, which focussed on incident prevention and response.
Supported by the tagline ‘Prevent – Manage – Learn’, the campaign considered the Seven Stages of the Forklift Incident Cycle. Each month, a different aspect of the overall topic was explored with the release of new resources.
The seven stages were:
- Prepare
- Respond
- Investigate
- Report
- Restart
- Learn
- Prevent
The final stage of the campaign included looking at the use of lift truck telematics to improve both safety and efficiency. UKMHA conducted a series of interviews with leading manufacturing members to outline the different types of telematics systems now available and how the data they gather can massively reduce risk in the workplace.
The ‘Prevent’ resources also included a harrowing interview with Lisa Ramos, whose life was irrevocably changed in 2006 when she became an above-knee amputee after an accident where a forklift truck reversed into her while she was in a designated walkway area in the warehouse where she worked with her husband.
She describes how the accident, which happened on her son’s 13th birthday, devastated her life and that of her family. She now campaigns for greater safety awareness in the workplace and urges businesses to take greater responsibility for the safety of their workforce.
Other resources include practical guidance on segregating pedestrians and advice on near miss reporting.
All the resources are available to download from the NFSD website – www.nationalforkliftsafetyday.co.uk
David Goss, Technical Director, UKMHA said: “The radical approach we have taken for the 2024 NFSD campaign has enabled us to provide detailed information about what to do in the event of an incident. The extended duration of the campaign has seen the UKMHA provide a wealth of crucial resource that will enhance workplace safety and minimise the impact of an incident.
The theme for the National Forklift Safety Day 2025 will be announced shortly.