Why It’s The Responsibility Of Your Business To Ensure Forklift Licences Are Up To Date

Businesses tend to be strict when it comes to verifying that a potential new forklift driver has a valid licence before employing the person. However, most are not as stringent when it comes to checking to make sure that their staff have valid licences and that their abilities are still up to the required standard. While each employee must make sure that they have a valid licence, it’s still your responsibility as a business owner to ensure your forklift drivers licences are up to date. Some of the reasons for this are as follows: 

Workplace Health & Safety

Business owners are accountable when it comes to the health and safety of all staff. An unlicensed driver, or one with an expired licence, could injure both themselves and other staff – for example, by a collision with another vehicle, knocking down a pedestrian or causing goods or equipment to fall. If such an incident involves an unlicensed driver, the business owner could be financially and legally liable.

Law and Regulation

In addition to health and safety regulations, business owners are legally required to ensure that employees are properly trained for tasks that may put themselves or others in danger. This, of course, includes forklift drivers. The licence itself needs to be correct in terms of the type of job. For example, there are different requirements for drivers that will be driving on roads, as opposed to those operating within the business premises only. Again, business owners or senior staff could be criminally liable if an accident occurs due to negligence or non-compliance.

Business Operation

It’s in the best interest of the business that forklift licence NZ is updated and that drivers attend regular refresher courses. Aside from the safety dangers mentioned above, there could also be a financial loss (such as damage to stock or property) from improper methods.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry. So, for forklift licenses and training in New Zealand, get in touch with RT Equipment now.