Think Safety Signs - Think Safety Signs is a complete online solution for all your safety news, product reviews and independent opinion.

Every worker whether they be permanent staff, contractors or agency workers have to be aware of issues that can affect their health and safety at work. With 241 work related fatalities in 2006 -07 and 141,350 related workplace injuries, workers have a right to work in places where risks to their health and safety are properly controlled.

Accidents will always occur from time to time but it is the duty of your employer to minimise the risks as much as possible as a large number of accidents can often be put down to negligence.
Some accidents do, however, occur more frequently than others in general.

There are simple tasks that employers can do to minimise these accidents from happening.
Did you know that flour, sugar, wood and dust have been known to combust and cause a major fire, which can destroy a business and can cause serious injury and even death. So don’t forget to tidy up sweep up! Highly flammable substances like petrol, thinners, and certain gases are the most obvious risks and should always be locked in a fireproof cabinet when not in use.

What happens if a fire breaks out? There are several different types of fire extinguishers and fire blankets and they each serve a specific purpose. It’s crucial that employers install the correct type(s) within the premises and that staff are fully trained in how and when to use them and what each of them are designed to do as using the wrong extinguisher on a particular type of fire can cause the fire to become even more dangerous. Where these kinds of appliances are located or mounted is also critical and they should be tested every year (workplace safety advice).

With over 8000 reported incidents, some of these fatalities with forklift trucks, do you really know how safe is your factory? Most forklift truck accidents happened due to a lack of training by the driver, a lack of knowledge about the equipment, bad truck maintenance and the surrounding working environment. There are several laws involving forklift trucks in the workplace, they are :

• Operators must receive adequate training which must be administered by an accredited trainer.
• No one under school leaving age is permitted to drive a forklift truck.
• If the trucks are driven at all on public highways, then the same legislation which applies to all road users with regards to the legal minimum age also applies.

Several pieces of legal legislation must be adhered to if forklift trucks are to operate in your factory,
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 :

• The Provision and Use of Workplace Equipment Regulations
• The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations
• The Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare Regulations
• The Noise at Work Regulations
• The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations

Remember, in the wrong hands, a forklift truck is a killing machine in the wrong hands, get the proper training, by an accredited instructor.

Most importantly any outlay an employer may pay for the original cost of training and implementing health and safety programs may be miniscule, to the compensation and loss of work that a serious accident could cost your company.