Toyota Publishes Free Resource for Forklift Truck Management

Companies utilising forklifts for their day-to-day operations have yet another free resource thanks to Toyota Materials Handling UK. The free resource is a printed guide covering a range of topics including forklift truck training, efficient materials handling, safe operations, accident avoidance, and preventing personal injuries.

According to Toyota Materials Handling UK’s Tony Wallis, the guide provides “advice for leaders and supervisors on how to keep their material handling operation running safely but also keeping their team within the warehouse safe.” It is sound advice that every warehouse manager could use regardless of whether or not his/her company operates Toyota forklift trucks. The guide is freely available to all who want it.

Statistics suggest there are more than 800 accidents every year involving forklift trucks. Many of those accidents involve critical injuries and deaths. A proactive approach that includes regular forklift truck training and a regularly updated materials handling policy can help eliminate the risk of such accidents. All of this is covered in the Toyota guide.

Forklift Safety Issues

Forklift trucks are an integral part of materials handling throughout Europe. In fact, one could make the case that forklifts are as valuable to shipping and handling as HGVs are to freight forwarding. Without forklift trucks, we would not be able to handle consumer goods and other materials as efficiently. The downside is that the basic forklift truck has some inherent weaknesses that raise safety concerns.

For example, it can be difficult to see around a forklift during the process of transporting a load. Limited vision is one of the chief causes of forklift accidents in warehouse environments. Another inherent safety issue is easily seen when forklift operators are stacking pallets. The higher a load goes into the air, the more unstable it becomes.

There is not much that can be done to change the design of a forklift truck without negatively affecting its performance. Therefore, safety comes down to establishing effective materials handling policies and insisting on regular forklift truck training.

We Train Forklift Operators

The HGV Training centre is known throughout the UK for providing high-quality HGV, LGV and PCV training. You need to know we also offer that same high-quality instruction in our forklift truck-training programme. We teach our forklift students the fundamental principles of safe forklift operation in order to ensure that everyone who earns our certificate is more than capable of handling the job safely.

Our forklift training covers topics such as pallet stacking and unstacking, safe load movement, smooth operation of forklift controls, manoeuvring in tight spaces, and operating a forklift in the presence of other workers and the vehicle traffic. Moreover, because it is difficult to grasp forklift operation fully without physically doing it, we include behind the wheel training in our programme.

The HGV training centre can train your forklift operators at one of nearly four dozen facilities around the UK. Do not hesitate to contact us for more information about our affordable and effective forklift truck-training programme.

Sources:

SHD Logistics – https://www.shdlogistics.com/news/view/toyota-launches-free-guide-to-managing-a-fork-lift-truck