The secrets of supervising forklift truck safety

Lifting safety performance

Lift truck safety is a complex and multifaceted combination of training, established company procedures and continuous supervision, in which the skills and ability of the supervisor are critical. How much of this is innate capability, how much can be taught, and how can good companies improve their performance?

Gay Sutton

Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo’s handling area at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam is a sight to behold. Covering some 40,000m2 it closely resembles a thriving ant’s nest. Some 850,000 tonnes of goods pass through each year, inbound, outbound or in transit. And these are moved by a fleet of some 150 forklifts and tractors as well as a few golf carts and aerial platforms, all of which are managed and maintained by Crepa, Cat® lift trucks dealer in Benelux. In addition to general cargo anything from fresh food, computers and medicines to flowers, paintings and even elephants and so on, are handled by dedicated teams of specialists.

Like any ant’s nest, this hub is highly organised and efficient. “Our main focus point is to deliver as promised and commit to our customers,” said Koen Wiegand, project engineer Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo. “Our aim is to deliver goods on time and in pristine condition. And to do this, we never compromise on safety.”

“Covering some 40,000m2 it closely resembles a thriving ant’s nest. Some 850,000 tonnes of goods pass through each year, inbound, outbound or in transit.”

Management aptitude

So are good management abilities born into a person or can they be engendered by training? It’s a discussion many companies are having. Steve Clark, chairman of the Retail and Distribution Group at the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) explained: “A good supervisor needs to be able to understand what drives people’s behaviour in the work place, and to be able to deal quickly with these challenges in a dynamic environment where the unexpected can happen.”

Back at Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo, having supervisors and managers with the right approach and skill sets is perceived as crucial, so all applicants are carefully assessed for aptitude before appointment to the role. “We look for supervisors and managers with natural authority, and excellent safety and people management skills,” Wiegand said. “Part of these skills is being a good communicator, motivating employees by giving compliments when things go right, being proactive towards business & safety risks, and giving solid feedback when things go wrong.”

“A good supervisor needs to be able to understand what drives people’s behaviour in the work place, and to be able to deal quickly with these challenges in a dynamic environment where the unexpected can happen.”

Once the right people are established in supervisory roles, Roger Bibbings of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, believes there are three things companies need for safe lift truck operations: competent director leadership; workforce involvement through empowerment, training and company culture; and expert advice from specialists.

Safety awareness training

Everyone agrees supervisors and managers need a thorough grounding in how lift trucks operate, what constitutes safe conditions and behaviour, and how to recognise and correct that which is dangerous.

Mentor Training, which partners with UK Cat lift trucks dealer Impact Handling, not only trains around 38,000 lift truck operators a year but runs tailor made courses that provide supervisors and managers with theoretical and practical information about lift truck operations and practices, demonstrations of safe and unsafe behaviours and conditions, and a sharp reminder of the manager’s legal responsibilities and regulations. This combination arms and motivates them to spot and correct unsafe behaviour. From this point, maintaining safety standards is down to continuous supervision, and good company policies and processes.

“Lift truck operators often complete their equipment training and testing successfully. However there is the risk that they return to their workplace and get into bad habits leading to unsafe operation,” explained Mentor’s Stuart Taylor. “The only way to reduce the likelihood of this happening is for managers and supervisors to address unsafe practice and behaviour as they see it. Carefully prepared safety procedures are only as good as the supervisors who enforce them.”

“Lift truck operators often complete their equipment training and testing successfully. However there is the risk that they return to their workplace and get into bad habits leading to unsafe operation.”

Improved site safety and a review of operational procedures does also have proven financial rewards for business. A company Mentor had been working with was incurring costs through damage to stock. “They invested time to review current practices and around £50,000 on job specific training relating to pallet placement. Through these two key elements, they have saved over £250,000 in stock damage reduction over a two year period.” And that figure does not include additional savings gained through reduced disruption.

A solid organisational foundation

Safe organisations are usually those with well defined management processes. In the company where Steve Clark is employed, this begins with ensuring staff understand exactly what is required of them. “We have documented roles and responsibilities for every position in the business. These include all elements of safety, and we clearly define the standards that we expect from people.”

Every job has key competence requirements, and applicants are assessed for those skills and experiences during the interview process. No assumptions are made on the basis of a previous job title. Induction training is supplemented by workshops that provide a thorough grounding in lift truck safety. Managers are then supported by a documented counselling and disciplinary procedure which explains each stage needed to manage poor adherence to safe standards.

Standards are maintained at the required level through defined supervisory procedures. “We have regular staff appraisals,” Clark continued, “and run a continuously rolling observation regime called MHE Operator Observation, where the manager or supervisor observes 10% of the workforce every month, running through a checklist of behaviours, skills and processes. In this way we can continuously verify and maintain performance. Interestingly we tend to have fewer incidents when our colleagues are busy. When they’re not working near to capacity, their focus on the job at hand appears to diminish.”

The finer points of culture

For Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo, education and staff involvement are essential in building a predictive and proactive culture of safety. Staff need to identify potentially unsafe situations. These situations need to be investigated thoroughly and prevention measures need to be installed. On the other hand, if there has been an incident, or an operator has been behaving in a seriously dangerous way, the supervisor can investigate what happened and discuss it on a person-to-person basis to ensure the employees learn from it and improve performance.

Communications are of utmost importance in maintaining awareness of safety. Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo manages this by a mix of communication tools; internal campaigns focused on safety, regular newsletters, quarterly session meetings for all staff, and daily team changeover meetings between every shift.

According to Bibbings of RoSPA, everyone in the organisation should have a responsibility for safety, within the scope of their role. And this works really well at Schiphol. Operators are constantly on the lookout for safety and not afraid to remind their directors that they should not appear on the work floor without the appropriate safety shoes and high visibility jackets.

Continuous improvement

Of course accidents happen, particularly in fast changing environments, and it is important to investigate every accident, and take action to address hazards. Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo has taken this a step further, and has processes in place for staff to openly report any situation they believe is unsafe. By doing this the organisation continuously supports and facilitates a more pro-active behaviour towards safety improvement. “Safety is a shared responsibility,” Wiegand said. “This open system contributes to creating more awareness and a safe working environment.”

Pallets in the cargo handling area come in two sizes – 2m long or 1m 20 Euro pallets. The danger is that the forks could go straight through the smaller pallets and protrude the other side, not only endangering people behind them but also damaging pallets stacked close by. “We investigated this and the operators themselves came up with an effective solution – coloured marks on the forks showing where they must stop driving the forks into the smaller pallets.”