With the start of the holiday season, many inexperienced young people are again temporarily employed for all kinds of warehouse work. Due to the lack of experienced staff, many of these youngsters are immediately put on the forklift truck. A big mistake, says Oscar Ebbeling of HER-training.
"Allowing employees to drive a forklift truck without providing specific training/training/instruction for this purpose is a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act," Ebbeling said. According to Ebbeling, these companies are therefore guilty of an economic offence. Moreover, putting inexperienced young people on forklifts increases the risk of damage and accidents on the shop floor.
Employer is responsible
The employer is responsible under health and safety legislation for ensuring that all employees operating mobile work equipment have specific expertise. Mobile work equipment includes forklifts, but also, for example, electric pallet trucks and stackers. This specific expertise must be demonstrable at all times. One way of doing so is with a forklift certificate, or other proof of training, instruction and/or education.
According to HER-training, care must be taken to ensure it is not just a certificate, but that it clearly states the forklift category. Simply having staff trained and certified by the first training provider is not always sufficient and can lead to major sanctions.
Insurance often only available from the age of 18
Young people may drive a forklift truck from the age of 16.With this age comes compulsory care for adequate instruction and supervision. So even the holiday worker who temporarily operates the machine must have sufficient expertise. This must be demonstrable. In addition, the employer must ensure that the work situation is safe. In other words, a demonstrably implemented health and safety policy is and remains necessary. Another point of attention is the insurance of said machines. Policies often still include age limits of eighteen for operating machinery. It is therefore important to check and amend these policies before allowing a younger employee to work on a forklift truck or other mobile work equipment.
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