Feedback on serious breach of health & safety - charge & allowance?

BarrelScraper

dickydonkin wrote: »

Out of curiosity, are all your fork truck drivers properly trained with RTITB accreditation? The reason I ask that if the worst did happen and an accident did occur, if no training had been carried out then the s**t would really hit the fan.

The answer to this is - i don't know.

One chap came in & said he has a ticket from previous employment, although he's sure this has now expired.

I & a few others were put on a course that the company got for free. Basically we were told it was a "refresher" course, but we hadn't actually been on a course to be refreshed on.
The training chap came in, told us to strike a few poses (as in lift something with the truck & he'll take a photo etc). He told us which boxes to tick & what to write on the paperwork & this would give us our qualification on an NVQ level i think it was.

This was the instruction from above.

Apparently our certificates are in the offices. I have no idea.


I did enquire about the 13/14yr old boy who is allowed to drive fork lift trucks at the weekend. I was told this wasn't allowed. This boy happens to be the owners son, so he's allowed to do it. Maybe not legally, but it happens - whilst customers are on the premises.


I know of safety inspections in the past & they always seem to get a heads up, as we then get told to go on a crazy clean up mission for the inspectors. Then when they leave, it returns to normal.

The only real training i've had in the past has been ........ can you operate that steering wheel? Yes? Right, crack on then.



In addition to fork lift trucks, we are also required to operate a JCB 411 & a JCB loadall (i've just checked google images & if you're not familiar with these machines, there's plenty of images there). I & others have had no formal training on these either.

They (company) talk of being trained by a competent person. They label a chap as competent & say that he can show you what does what & away you go.

dickydonkin

BarrelScraper wrote: »

The answer to this is - i don't know.

One chap came in & said he has a ticket from previous employment, although he's sure this has now expired.

I & a few others were put on a course that the company got for free. Basically we were told it was a "refresher" course, but we hadn't actually been on a course to be refreshed on.
The training chap came in, told us to strike a few poses (as in lift something with the truck & he'll take a photo etc). He told us which boxes to tick & what to write on the paperwork & this would give us our qualification on an NVQ level i think it was.

This was the instruction from above.

Apparently our certificates are in the offices. I have no idea.


I did enquire about the 13/14yr old boy who is allowed to drive fork lift trucks at the weekend. I was told this wasn't allowed. This boy happens to be the owners son, so he's allowed to do it. Maybe not legally, but it happens - whilst customers are on the premises.


I know of safety inspections in the past & they always seem to get a heads up, as we then get told to go on a crazy clean up mission for the inspectors. Then when they leave, it returns to normal.

The only real training i've had in the past has been ........ can you operate that steering wheel? Yes? Right, crack on then.



In addition to fork lift trucks, we are also required to operate a JCB 411 & a JCB loadall (i've just checked google images & if you're not familiar with these machines, there's plenty of images there). I & others have had no formal training on these either.

They (company) talk of being trained by a competent person. They label a chap as competent & say that he can show you what does what & away you go.

Wow.......this type of operation is what unions and the Health and Safety at Work Act tried to eradicate.

There are really serious issues here - even more worrying is allowing a kid to drive a dangerous piece of machinery which is not only placing himself at risk of injury, but also you and your colleagues.

Nobody under 18 should be driving a fork truck and I suspect that any insurance would be deemed as null and void if the worst happened - assuming there is insurance.

Your employer does have employer liabilty insurance? The certificate should be displayed.

I suspect the HSE would deem this workplace as an 'amber priority' as a minimum and would follow up your concerns within 5 days.

Have a look at this and consider your options.