Managing safety in forklift operations

In safe hands

Good forklift training, well laid out operating environments and effective risk assessments are essential to safety, but if the right management culture is not in place all of that may be for nothing.

Gay Sutton looks at some of the pitfalls and finds out how to establish and manage a safe forklift operating environment.

We’ve all seen workplaces where this happens. A steady reliable employee passes training with flying colours but quickly acquires bad habits when let loose in the workplace. Performance deteriorates and the results are felt through the business. In the forklift operating environment this impact can unfortunately be quite literal, resulting in injury to personnel and visitors, damage to goods, racking and equipment – or worse.

“Invariably these things happen at inconvenient times, in the middle of the Christmas rush or when you’re at half staff during the summer holiday period. It’s part of the rich tapestry of life,” said David Ellison of the Forklift Truck Association. “To prevent this, it’s important to have the right management systems and proper supervision in place. Otherwise there will undoubtedly be a costly accident.”

“...A steady reliable employee passes training with flying colours but quickly acquires bad habits when let loose in the workplace. Performance deteriorates and the results are felt through the business.”

So what constitutes a good safety management system, and where can we see it in action? According to chartered safety and health practitioner Michael Collier, who has worked extensively on such systems with DHL and TDG, as well as large retail chains Safeway, Morrisons and Argos, a well managed safety regime can only succeed if it’s driven into the ethos of the company.

Supported and reinforced from the board level, it has a well oiled hierarchy of responsibility that includes a designated safety manager and involves all levels of management. Ultimately, though, the supervisors are the eyes and ears on the shopfloor, and the primary responsibility for safe disciplines should lie squarely on their shoulders.

“...the supervisors are the eyes and ears on the shopfloor, and the primary responsibility for safe disciplines should lie squarely on their shoulders.”

Supervisors therefore require a range of capabilities, the first of which is a thorough understanding of what constitutes safe and unsafe practices. “We put our first-line managers through an extensive health and safety training, and then follow that up with a version of the driver training we give our forklift operators. It teaches them exactly what to look for,” Collier said. This knowledge will be ineffective, however, if disciplinary action has to be referred up the management chain.

“Linked to well informed supervision has got to e empowerment,” Ellison pointed out. “The supervisor needs to have the authority to deal with the individual – on the spot.”

However, there has to be a good balance between carrot and stick. “Health and safety can’t be done to people, there has to be worker engagement,” insisted Roger Bibbings occupational safety adviser at RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents). “And this very much depends on the softer skills: listening to people, motivating them, helping them make decisions and so on.” Unfortunately these skills are very rarely taught at supervisor level.

All too often, supervisors are simply appointed from the shop floor on a Friday afternoon, given a shirt and tie over the weekend and expected begin in their management role on Monday. “That’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Collier.

“They have to be taught how to manage people effectively. I’ve spent a lot of time addressing this in the organisations where I’ve worked. We now make a significant investment in ongoing training for first-time managers.”

Higher up the management chain, staff must buy-in to the principle that safety and professionalism rather than speed and risk will deliver the productivity the company requires. Setting the right KPIs (key performance indicators) can encourage this and remove many of contradictory pressures that are often exerted at different levels. A measure of speed, for example, encourages unsafe speed and corner cutting whereas a measure of cost savings through fewer accidents reinforces good practice and highlights achievement.

“Higher up the management chain, staff must buy-in to the principle that safety and professionalism rather than speed and risk will deliver the productivity the company requires.”

Nothing ever remains the same in any working environment. People, work layouts, products and tasks all change. One of the most effective methods for maintaining safety in this changing environment is to analyse the cause of knocks and accidents and to remove the hazards.

Regular inspection of racking and vehicles will certainly yield information about a strike. Technology solutions can also indicate when a truck has been involved in a knock or has been driven too fast. But, according to Bibbings this technology can only be effective if used proactively with the drivers rather than as a punishment tool for poor performance.

Some of the best companies have instigated highly effective schemes whereby the driver reports any accident or near miss, and then engages in the hazard elimination process. If drivers fear admitting an error they will do their best to cover it up, so significant encouragement and an element of reward make a big difference to the results. This is then balanced by a hard line approach if damage is hidden from the company.

“In one company,” Collier explained, “we ran a scheme where the names of drivers reporting near miss accidents were put in a hat, and we ran a monthly draw, giving the winner an extra day’s holiday. In another company we took a different approach. We encouraged everyone to be aware of the damage that was being done and to try to prevent it. Then we calculated the savings that were generated, and split the savings 50-50 between the shopfloor team and the company.
It was a win-win situation. They received a nice bonus at times such as Christmas, and it worked really well.”

A hierarchy of managers are usually involved in accident analysis, but the supervisors are again the best equipped to get to the bottom of an incident and identify its root cause. Steps can then be taken to make the environment or behaviour safer. In many cases the remedy need not be hugely expensive. Small measures targeted at a specific problem, such as mirrors enabling drivers to see around corners, can make a huge difference.

Each operating environment differs, of course, but in many cases it’s possible to engineer the hazard out of the system and reduce the possibility of human error. “In all the operations where I’ve worked, we’ve restricted the speed of the vehicle so that it can’t be driven too fast. We’ve also put restrictors on height so that trucks can’t transverse, just lift after the load is approximately 1 foot off the ground,” Collier said. “Meanwhile, safe loads are determined by computer, and we then work with suppliers to ensure the product arrives wrapped in the pre-determined standard of shrink-wrap film, on the right pallets and conforming to the size and weight we specify. With this consistent supply approach, our truck drivers can safely put the product away immediately in the right location first time.”

“...in many cases it’s possible to engineer the hazard out of the system and reduce the possibility of human error.”

In most operational environments safety is a matter of continuous improvement. But occasionally, management processes require a more widespread reengineering. Then, the real strategic leadership for change has to come from the very top. “It’s hard work if you’re in an operation that hasn’t previously been managed very well. You need to go through the change management process,” said Collier. “You’ve sometimes got to be Mr Nice, sometime you’ve got to be Mr Nasty and sometimes you’ve got to go back time and time again until you get the right message across and it’s finally understood. But you win at the other end, and if you’re strong enough to do that, your managers will manage more effectively.”

The result is well worth the effort. Increased safety undoubtedly delivers improved productivity and profitability and fewer hours of downtime, and that’s a great by-product.