Forklift truck training standards are set to rise in the UK, following the collaboration announcement from the British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) and a workplace transport training body.
The RTITB has struck an agreement with BITA to work together in achieving a number of common goals.
These include increasing awareness and the appeal among school-leavers of the career prospects offered in the logistics sector, taking advantage of current and emerging technology to modernize training, and promoting higher standards in training and safety in the industry to minimize workplace accidents.
James Clark, secretary general of BITA, the trade body representing fork lift truck manufacturers and suppliers, said, “Since its formation over 75 years ago, BITA has existed to ensure trucks produced and sold by our members are inherently safe to operate. By extension, we have also worked with our members to improve safe standards of operation; training is, of course, a very large part of that initiative.
“BITA aims to support the industry in creating a younger, highly-trained workforce capable of competing at a global level, and we view RTITB as the ideal partner to help us achieve this.”
By leveraging current and emerging technology, such as simulators, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), RTITB aims to ensure accessibility to training for the younger, tech-savvy generation of employees while also helping to reduce the overall financial and practical burdens of training on employers.
Laura Nelson, managing director of RTITB, said, “Our sole mission is to reduce costs and save lives in workplace equipment operations. To achieve such a big goal, we work with committed partners who share our vision for a safer, more efficient world.
“BITA are a perfect partner and we will be working with James and his team to continually promote and support high standards of forklift truck training in order to dramatically reduce incidents and their severity in the ubiquitous world of fork lift.”
March 16, 2018
