12th UK National Forklift Safety Day highlights technician safety

NFSD IS one of the industry’s leading safety initiatives, promoting best practice in the operation, maintenance and management of forklift trucks. This year’s NFSD highlights the essential contribution engineers and service technicians make to maintaining safe and efficient equipment, whilst raising awareness of the risks they face in the workplace.

The campaign is underpinned by UKMHA workplace injury data, which identifies several key safety concerns:

• Between 2019 and 2025, UK forklift suppliers lost, on average, more than 1,000 working days annually due to workplace injuries.
• 85 per cent of recorded incidents involved technicians working at customer premises.
• Nearly 40 per cent of incidents were caused by poor manual handling or simple slips and trips.
• More than 20 per cent of injuries resulting in time off work were linked to manual handling issues.
• One third of incidents occurred when technicians were not actively working on the material handling equipment itself.

Speaking about the NFSD launch, David Goss, Technical Director of UKMHA, said: “Every year in the UK material handling industry, one in every 80 people suffers a serious injury, and many of these incidents are entirely preventable.”

He continued: “We have published the technician accident data on the National Forklift Safety Day website. The figures show that lost-time injuries result in an average of more than two weeks off work. More importantly, behind every statistic is a person, and a moment that could have been avoided.”

The stated long-term objective of UKMHA is to reduce the number of safety incidents and accidents involving material handling equipment (MHE) by improving working practices on common activities through a combination of guidance, training and greater industry awareness.

As part of this initiative, the association has developed a series of bite-sized toolbox talks covering common workplace risks and practical safety measures. Topics include manual handling techniques, safe access and egress from equipment, and LPG cylinder handling.

When working on the customer’s site, the association stressed that technician safety is a shared responsibility between employers and customers. To support this, UKMHA provides a Site Induction Checklist and will continue to encourage businesses to sign up to the UKMHA Safe Working Area Charter. The initiative promotes safer site conditions for visiting technicians and greater collaboration between service providers and end users.

Now in its 12th year, National Forklift Safety Day once again demonstrates the material handling industry’s collective commitment to improving workplace safety, with UKMHA members and supporting organisations actively sharing safety messages, resources and best practice across their businesses and social media channels.

Whilst the second Tuesday in June has traditionally hosted NFSD, UKMHA emphasises that the campaign’s ambition is to make every day national forklift safety day.

Further information, campaign materials and safety resources are available at the National Forklift Safety Day website: https://nationalforkliftsafetyday.co.uk/