When a crush isn’t such a lovely thing

October 01, 2009  

"I've got a crush on you" should be a phrase that brings to mind only fun and frolics. However, if it's a fork lift truck driver who has a crush on you, and you're a warehouse operative working in a busy environment, that phrase could take a sinister - and sometimes fatal - turn.

The FLTA's annual Safety Conference was, once again, a gripping and informative event. A packed house at Warwick University's Arts Centre listened to a broad range of statistics, opinions, experiences and, thankfully, solutions related to health and safety in and around areas where forklifts are operating. The event reinforced the FLTA's "look out for each other" campaign to reduce the number of accidents involving pedestrians struck by moving vehicles.

It was good to see old friends there, and particularly FLTA Chairman John Chappell, who looked in good health again after a spectacular plunge from a hillside that left him tragically unable to host the FLTA Awards back in February.

The sessions started with an eye-opening piece of research by HSE's Workplace Transport Manager, Carol Grainger, who analysed workplace vehicle accidents over a 10-year period. There are around 2,000 forklift accidents each year in the UK, a figure that seems to remain fairly consistent irregardless of the worthy efforts of organisations such as the FLTA.

In accidents involving fork lift trucks, 87% were attributed to counterbalance trucks. The highest number of accidents (48%) occur when stacking/retrieving goods, and, as the FLTA knows, the greatest cause of accidents is being struck by a moving vehicle.

Luke Elmer worked in a small manufacturing company for a short while after leaving school, and his experiences there led him to write a dissertation on fork lift truck safety in his final year at college whilst studying for a BSc in Design Technology. He presented to the delegates his research and findings, and went beyond where an average young man should be expected to go by unveiling his design for a device - called Vibralert - that could lead to a reduction in the number of workplace accidents. It was a vibrating alert that operatives would wear on their wrists. When it detected a forklift within a specified range, it would pulsate to alert the pedestrian. This would be particularly useful in very noisy areas.

Two subsequent sessions from Crown and Transmon looked at specific truck-borne devices, then sponsor of the event Calor Gas gave an informative presentation regarding good H&S practice around LPG gas.

After lunch, IWS presented a range of safety solutions it has been working on, including a seat fitted with semi-active suspension to reduce the instances of muscular-skeletal disorders, particularly in the spine.

STILL, the winner of the FLTA 'Archie' for Safety in 2009 - an award presented by Yours Truly in February - took to the floor next to talk about its Safety Alert technology, and that was followed by a fascinating look at a new product - Gravloc - that disables a truck's controls as soon as it senses it is tipping. This was illustrated with some graphic video that showed just how easy it can be to get things badly wrong when using materials handling equipment in a non-prescribed manner.

Finally, Ian Vernon of The City of London entertained and enlightened the delegates with a case study on New Spitalfields Market. Since taking action, accidents at the busy east London facility have been reduced by 77%. His project was a worthy 2009 winner of the FLTA's Safe Site Award.

And so the event closed for another year. The clear message coming out of the seminars is that we cannot afford to be complacent. Husbands, sons, mothers, daughters... they are still being killed or seriously injured in the workplace. Whilst the truck manufacturers do as much as they can to build safer and safer vehicles, there is one element they cannot control, and that is the human element. As Ms. Grainger pointed out, "There is still a poor safety culture around where fork lift trucks operate."