At the recent National Fork Truck Safety Conference, emphasis was firmly placed on strong leadership and a holistic approach towards taking ownership of site safety, with the HSE themselves pinpointing the importance of the manager’s role.

Mentor Training, the UK’s leading provider of lift truck training, believes that strong leadership is not only key to safety, it heavily influences a site’s profitability, too, and has developed a training course specifically designed to help managers and supervisors become more informed and maximise their potential.

Mentor Managing Director Stuart Taylor explains: “It’s clear that managers and supervisors drive a site’s culture and determine its norms. Without confident and well-informed leadership, every effort you put into developing your safety culture will quickly come undone…

“However, this confidence and expertise isn’t just ‘picked up’ on the job. More than half of the managers we meet on our Managing Forklift Operations course have never driven a forklift before or received any kind of formal training. In addition, up to 90% are not aware of their legal responsibilities and the devastating consequences of an accident that results in prosecution.”

Mentor’s Managing Forklift Operations course equips managers and supervisors with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to proactively manage the use of forklift trucks in the workplace - effectively, legally and safely - in full compliance with L117.

Now in its third year, the course is well established as a solution for companies looking to make improvements to safety and productivity. Mentor has trained 1,500 managers and supervisors to become more confident and proactive leaders, taking ownership of site safety and encouraging others to do the same.

But good supervision does more than prevent accidents. Stuart explains: “It’s no surprise that the most safety-minded companies are among the most cost-effective, too. By training your operators to be safe and your managers to manage safely, your team automatically becomes more efficient and can avoid costly accidents and disruption, saving money that contributes directly to your bottom line.

“Although adequate training ensures your operators work safely and - as studies repeatedly show - productively, it’s difficult to achieve and sustain any level of success without good supervision.”