There is no specific requirement to provide refresher training after set intervals, but even trained and experienced lift-truck operators need to be re-assessed from time to time to ensure that they continue to operate lift trucks safely.

This assessment, which should form part of a firm’s normal monitoring procedure and be formally time-tabled to ensure that it is done at reasonable intervals, will indicate whether any further training is needed.

Re-assessment might be appropriate where operators have not used trucks for some time, are occasional users, appear to have developed unsafe working practices, have had an accident or near miss, or there is a change in their working practices or environment.

Employers may find it useful to record re-assessment in their safety monitoring records. Employers can, of course, decide that automatic retraining after a set period of time is the best way of ensuring that employees are adequately trained but, where this approach is adopted, it will still be necessary to monitor performance in case retraining is required before the set period ends. The guiding principle is that employers need to maintain the competence of operators to use lift trucks safely through a laid down, formal process of monitoring and assessment.

At present there is no legal requirement to re-fresh. It is however recommended that an operators driving skills may need to be assessed every 1-2 years. It is also recommended for operators who are coming back to driving after a lay off period, or have not driven for a while, or just need reminding of safe driving practices attends this course.

Our recommendation at Leeds FLT to you is.....
This course can be used to maintain a high standard of skill level. We try to encourage this from your drivers. Some firms have a rolling policy of training so that every employee required to drive will have a refresher every 1-2 years of their career with that company. We can administer a rolling training program for you. That may full-fill your training needs.

A building firm and its director have been fined a total of £60,000 after a court heard that an employee was crushed to death when he was hit by a fork lift truck that was being driven by an untrained driver.

The labourer was operating a cement mixer on a housing development site when the accident happened. A fork lift accidentally struck the worker, who suffered severe crushing injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

The driver of the lift truck did not see the labourer, and believed that he was standing a safe distance away from the vehicle when the incident happened. The company and its director failed to ensure the lift truck was being operated by a suitably trained driver.

In the week before the accident, the director had instructed an untrained worker to drive the lift truck for a day when its regular driver had failed to come into work. When a lift truck driver was required for the same reason on the day of the accident - the company's foreman on the site instructed the untrained employee to drive the lift truck again.

The director should have ensured the employee driving the lift truck had a training certificate permitting him to drive fork lift trucks. If the truck had been driven by a trained driver, the accident could have been avoided, as the driver would have been aware of the need to check that there were no personnel in the vicinity of the vehicle when operating it.

www.hse.gov.uk