The increase in the number of forklifts is associated with an increased risk of accidents and dangerous situations. State institutions, health and safety inspectors, manufacturers of means of transport, scientists and logisticians – that is, all those interested in the safe operation of transport systems, take action to improve the state of health and safety.

Forklifts are an increasing part of the group of handling equipment. This fact is accompanied by an increase in the number of dangerous situations and accidents involving their operators. In order to maintain occupational safety in this context, it is necessary to comply with regulations and technical and usage instructions and to increase the standards of education.

The analysis of the causes of accidents, divided into types of dangerous events, allowed to conclude that in recent years the number of various cases of loss of truck stability, uncontrolled activation of mechanisms, improper operation or uncontrolled vehicle departures has increased. On more than one occasion it was the operators who caused accidents.

The conclusion is that it is necessary to more thoroughly verify the skills of operators and work towards increasing their knowledge of hazards at work. Increased attention is required for devices that are not subject to technical supervision. Accidents in a group of operators, related to the manipulation of the load, its instability or loss of stability of the truck are accompanied by severe consequences.

Answering the questions formulated in the introduction, it can be concluded that despite the systematic increase in accident rates, safety at work of forklift operators has improved in one aspect: the reduction in the number of fatalities. This is probably the result of the work of institutions that care about improving safety, such as UDT, PIP or CIOP-PIB and the renewal of the machine park of means of transport, as well as the extension of forklift equipment with passive and active safety elements.

Source: CIOP and PIB materials

Source: https://www.seka.pl/bezpieczenstwo-operatorow-wozkow-widlowych/

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.