In what is described as its most ambitious initiative to date, the Fork Lift Truck Association (FLTA) is spearheading a nationwide drive to improve safety at every site that uses fork lift trucks.

The Safer Site Programme is a free, online, step-by-step safety programme that anyone can implement.

The idea is simple: each month the FLTA will publish on its website (www.fork-truck.org.uk) a new step in the programme. Each step will contain advice, guidance, resources and a series of practical tasks that must be completed to move through the process.

The aim of the programme is threefold:

  1. To actively drive down the number and frequency of fork lift truck accidents – and near misses – in the UK
  2. To share successful safety initiatives between companies who operate fork lift trucks and to improve the general level of safety precautions on UK fork lift truck sites
  3. To encourage open, blame-free incidence reporting so that everyone feels able to highlight dangerous practices freely and without recriminations.

To add an element of fun and competition, the FLTA is also asking everyone taking part in the programme to take a ‘selfie’ photograph of the most important safety feature on their site.

Called a ‘Safety Selfie’, the photo should include both the safety feature and the person responsible for implementing that safety initiative on the site.

Ten lucky winners in the competition will each receive a Kindle Fire HD tablet thanks to generous sponsorship from Rivermore Asset Finance.

The competition will run until 31 December 2014 and is open to anyone who works on or around fork lift trucks. To check out the entries so far, head to the special ‘Safety Selfie’ gallery on the website.