News from MLA Holding Australia's Largest Forklift Supplier

Fleet Safety Tips: Best Practices For Forklift Use

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Fleet safety – for all asset types – is something every organization strives to improve. Safe use of material handling equipment allows for a more productive working environment. Below are some tips to help you spread the word on
material handling equipment safety:

1. Ensure proper training: Each operator should be well-trained and qualified to operate the equipment.

2. Complete a thorough inspection: Conduct a pre-shift inspection of the forklift, including brakes, steering, warning devices, safety devices, mast, tyres and controls. Note any issues and do not use damaged equipment until it is fixed or repaired.

3. Carry loads correctly: Loads should be secure and appropriately sized for the equipment in use. When carrying a load, be sure to go forward up ramps and in reverse down ramps. Lower the load to travel height and carry it with a slight back tilt while in motion. Only raise and lower loads while the forklift is not in motion.

4. Travel at a safe speed: Travel at a safe speed for the workplace environment. The forklift should maintain a safe distance away from people and other moving or stationary equipment.

5. Remove the key: When not in use or unattended, turn off the forklift and remove the key from the ignition, to prevent unauthorised operation of the forklift.

6. Implementing a Fleet Management System: Mobile device management allows a business to connect their technology hardware with the business’ back-end systems to enhance the visibility and information managers have
to hand when making decisions.

MLA have developed MLA FleetControl, a Fleet Management System to provide businesses with the ability to effectively manage their fleet remotely. MLA FleetControl uses intuitive technology to link your business with your
material handling equipment, optimising the performance of operators and forklift fleets and is the most advanced and functional forklift fleet management technology available. MLA FleetControl focuses on improving safety and
compliance while increasing productivity and reducing costs associated with managing any size forklift fleet.

Safe forklift operation is encouraged by the prevention of untrained or unauthorised staff operating equipment. Operator compliance is made easy with automated operator pre-start checklists which identify any maintenance
issues before equipment is used.

By following these tips and implementing a Fleet Management System such as MLA FleetControl you will be able to set a foundation of safety for the use of material handling equipment in your work environment.

Information for this article was sourced from www.fleetmanagementweekly.com. For further forklift safety information and MLA FleetControl contact MLA Holdings on 131 652 or www.mlaholdings.com.au.

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High Risk Work: Forklift work platforms

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Objective
To provide guidance on safely using forklift work platforms to elevate workers via the lifting ability of a forklift or similar industrial truck.

Background

Unsafe and/or inadequate systems of work – such as standing on forklift tynes or pallets, or in an unsuitable stillage – and the improper use of work platforms are common causes of serious incidents.
Forklift work platforms should be used to elevate workers to perform short duration tasks where it is not practical to use scaffolding, elevating work platforms or similar devices.

Australian Standard AS 2359.1: Powered industrial trucks – General requirements provides a minimum standard to which work platforms should be constructed.

Risk control measures

Safe work procedures should be developed for tasks involving the use of forklift work platforms. Forklift operators must:

  • be properly trained and hold a high-risk work licence
  • conduct pre-operational checks before lifting any person in a work platform, including ensuring the work platform is securely attached to the forklift
  • ensure the vehicle is parked while workers are on the platform
  • remain at the forklift controls at all times, keeping hands and feet clear of controls other than to lift or lower when required
  • ensure all parts of the forklift are clear of overhead obstructions, especially powerlines and overhead electrical cables
  • limit the number of workers on the platform to the manufacturer’s or competent person’s instruction
  • erect barriers and signs in areas subject to passing traffic and ensure nobody stands or passes under the forklift tynes or platform (whether loaded or empty), unless they are a competent person conducting maintenance

The forklift must:

  • be parked on a hard level surface, with the handbrake on
  • have all controls, other than lift and lower, immobilised
  • have the mast vertical and tynes horizontal
  • (if hydraulic) be fitted with a flow restrictor to limit the lowering speed in the event of hydraulic failure

Information for this article was sourced from www.safework.sa.gov.au. For further forklift safety information contact MLA Holdings on 131 652 or www.mlaholdings.com.au.

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Developing a traffic management plan

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What is the problem?
Workplaces using forklifts without an adequate traffic management plan in place to ensure pedestrians and other powered mobile plant are separated from forklifts.

What are the risks?

Forklifts cause more workplace deaths and injuries than any other piece of equipment. More than half the people killed in forklift-related incidents in the last 10 years have been pedestrians. Even when forklifts are travelling at low speeds they can crush pedestrians.

What is a solution to the problem?

Firstly, identify the hazards and risks related to forklift use at your workplace and assess and control the risks of people and other powered mobile equipment coming into contact with those hazards. Hazards and risks must be controlled by eliminating the risks, so far as is reasonably practicable. Where it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, the risk must be controlled by reducing the risk so far as is reasonably practicable

The types of risk controls to consider include (but are not limited to):

  •  substituting a forklift with other suitable load shifting equipment

  •  identifying the most efficient route of travel

  •  traffic flows

  •  reducing the frequency of interaction with powered mobile plant

  •  licence and operator training

A traffic management plan may include a range of risk control measures, such as:

  •  pedestrian and forklift exclusion zones

  •  safety zones for truck drivers

  •  safety barriers

  •  floor markings

  •  containment fences

  •  speed limiting devices and signs

Involve health and safety representatives, forklift operators and other employees when putting the traffic management plan together. The risk controls should be reviewed regularly. All people at the workplace, including contractors and visitors, must be advised about the workplace’s traffic management plan (e.g. during workplace induction).

Information for this article was sourced from www.worksafe.vic.gov.au. For further forklift safety information contact MLA Holdings on 131 652 or www.mlaholdings.com.au.

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Safety Attitudes

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In organisational psychology, the belief-attitude-value system determines the likelihood that people will accept a message (e.g. workplace safety) and act accordingly based on three psychological dimensions:

1.       People's beliefs (the cognitive dimension): what a person knows to be true, our convictions.

2.       People’s attitudes (the affective dimension): how they feel, a particular perspective or position on something.

3.       People’s actions (the behavioural dimension): the probability that people will act in accordance with their attitudes and beliefs.

So why are safety attitudes important and how do we learn about them in our workplaces?

Attitudes evaluate and express an opinion on an issue like workplace safety, whether positively or negatively, and are based on actual experiences. Therefore attitudes can be expected to change as a function of experiences and it is here that developing a workplace safety culture can have an impact. In communicating and providing experiences of positive workplace safety behaviour, we can have an impact on the people’s attitudes towards safety.

When poor attitudes to safety need to change into positive attitudes towards safety, the motivation behind the attitude also needs to change. (Note: this is not the only way to change attitudes, but it is an important one.) If you seek to change the motivations which maintain a person's beliefs about safety (e.g. the motivator: 'the boss doesn’t listen to my complaints about safety problems and people can get hurt' and the belief: 'the company puts production before our safety') and if you can show the difference between attitudes, or between attitudes and behaviour, you have the opportunity to change the motivations which keep people stuck in their poor safety attitudes.     
                                                                                                                 
Attitude change
Attitude change may take place when compliance (with peer expectations), identification (a desire to be like someone we admire) or internalisation (change in belief when intrinsic rewards exist) occur.

Renowned psychologist Carl Jung defines attitude as a ‘readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way’ (Jung, 1921). Attitudes very often come in pairs, one conscious and the other unconscious. Within this broad definition Jung defines several attitudes.

Applying this to workplace safety, we try to move our conscious behaviours and experiences of workplace safety into our unconscious, making workplace safety an intrinsic mindset and attitude. Similarly there may be unconscious and unsafe behaviours which need to be brought to the consciousness in order for them to be addressed.

Practical implementation
Surveying the workforce to determine attitudes to workplace health and safety is a useful step in the workplace safety culture change process, as this can help direct resources. The aim is for safety to become a subconscious behaviour, just like the way we switch on a light when we enter a room, it needs to become behavioural.

Understanding peoples’ attitudes to safety is an important start. Then, change can occur by focusing on the positive and reinforcing it. Positive safety culture, commitment from management, communication, consultation, surveys, programs, inspections, audits, job safety analysis, training, employee involvement, etc are just some of the activities that can be implemented which can result in this attitude shift and create a positive workplace culture.

Information for this article was sourced from www.workplaceohs.com.au . For more information on contact MLA Holdings on 131 652 or www.mlaholdings.com.au.

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Dangers of Workplace Complacency

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Workplace complacency occurs when you’ve been doing something a certain way for so long without incident that you naturally assume there can never be an incident. Workers and operators develop a false sense of security and that’s when things can start to go wrong. Complacency is a common and frustrating occurrence in most workplaces in some form or another and can have devastating consequences. It can become particularly dangerous when operating a forklift and working in an environment where forklifts commonly operate.

Complacency is regarded by many as safety’s worst enemy. Although safety processes are always put in and we start off with the best intentions, confidence and routine inevitably set it, and that almost always leads to complacency. It is not unusual to see operators raising their load while turning their forklift or exceeding speed limits in order to meet deadlines. The pre-start checklist system is another procedure that is frequently skipped. Operators get deceived into a sense of complacency and genuinely believe that the equipment is safe to operate even when taking these shortcuts.

It’s not only operators that are guilty of complacency. The above occurrences are quite common, but how often is this behaviour challenged by managers and supervisors? Until these incidents result in accidents, they go unnoticed in many workplaces, jeopardizing the safety of many employees. It is up to both operators and managers alike to battle complacency.

In regards to forklifts, WorkCover NSW states that:

·         Employers are responsible for providing proper information, training and supervision.

Employees have responsibilities too. WorkCover NSW states that they must:

·         Comply with reasonable instructions, training and information given to them, and follow safe work procedures to do work.

Operators need to be trained to understand the importance of forklift inspection and maintenance as well as safe and correct operation of the machinery. Managers and supervisors must provide site and equipment specific training to maintain and enhance operators’ skills. As things get forgotten and bad habits and complacency form, an effective system of management and supervision needs to be in place to ensure operators receive regular familiarisation and refresher training.

The best way to fight complacency is regular reminders. Safety meetings before every shift are effective as they bring safety awareness to the forefront of everybody’s mind right before they begin each and every shift.

Information for this article was sourced from www.forkliftaction.com and www.workcover.nsw.gov.au. For further forklift safety information contact MLA Holdings on 131 652 or www.mlaholdings.com.au.

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Mobile Phones: A Risky Distraction

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It is common knowledge that using a mobile phone whilst driving a vehicle on Australian roads is against the law. It is considered to be a distraction to the driver and therefore deemed to be unsafe. There are currently no laws or regulations relating to mobile phone use when operating a forklift. This is perhaps somewhat surprising. The workplace presents a forklift operator with many hazards, just like the road does a vehicle driver. To navigate these hazards safely, the operator needs to be free of distractions, and mobile phones are a major one.

The key role mobile phones play in distracting forklift operators is to take their attention away from the task at hand, whether it’s brief or prolonged. Workplace and warehouse environments, where forklifts commonly operate, are generally confined and high traffic areas. Forklifts are often in close proximity to pedestrians, expensive goods, and other machinery. To ensure the safe operation of forklifts and reduce the risk to others, operators’ full attention is required at all times.


Mobile phones can also be distracting even when they aren’t being used. Operators can lose control of their forklift when seeking to grab an unsecured item that is in danger of falling within the cab area. These items are often mobile phones; however they can also be something as trivial as a pen. The problem is that it's a reflex response and it takes at least one or both hands away from the controls.
Because it’s not against the law, allowing mobile phone use whilst operating forklifts is a decision that needs to be made by management. The first thing to do is carry out a Risk Assessment to determine when and if mobile phone use is necessary at your workplace.


Operators taking or making personal calls while at the wheel should most certainly be prohibited. Where there is a legitimate reason for using the phone for work purposes, a hands-free kit or other safer communication systems should be considered.


It is strongly advised to avoid using mobile phones when operating a forklift. Just as they are to drivers on the roads, mobile phones are a risky distraction to operators of forklifts. After carrying out a Risk Assessment, it is up to management to establish rules regarding mobile phone use at the workplace and enforce them.


Information for this article was sourced from www.forkliftbriefing.co.uk. For further forklift safety information contact MLA Holdings on 131 652 or www.mlaholdings.com.au

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