Fork Lift Truck Operating - The Law

Every Employer must ensure that everyone operating Fork Lift Trucks have received adequate training.

Every Employer must ensure anyone that supervises or manages Lift Truck operations have received adequate training.

Training must be carried out by registered instructors only. Not by managers, supervisors or qualified operators.

Registered Instructors must be accredited by the RTITB to issue RTITB certificates

Employers should check that instructors / training organisations are qualified to deliver training on the machine types they are training on.

The legal number of trainees allowable per course is a maximum of 3 per instructor on Fork Lift Trucks

Written Authorisation to operate a Fork Lift Truck must be issued by the employers to all employees.

There are approximately 8000 reported serious accidents per year, unfortunately many of these lead to fatalities. The Health and Safety Executive take serious actions to enforce heavy fines and prosecutions on managers and company directors who have failed to comply with the relevant legislation.