Forklift and Telehandler Safety — Training, Checks and Safe Operation (2026)

Why It Matters and the Law That Applies

Lift trucks are involved in a disproportionate number of serious incidents because they are heavy, fast for their size, often reversing, and frequently operating around people on foot. The three failure modes that kill are overturns (the truck tipping sideways or forwards), striking pedestrians, and loads falling. Almost every fatal lift-truck accident traces back to one of those three.

The legal framework is layered, and you need to understand which duty sits where:

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA): the overarching duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees and others affected by the work.
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER): covers the truck itself — suitable equipment, maintained in good repair, used only by trained and competent people, with the right controls and guarding.
• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER): applies because a forklift or telehandler is lifting equipment. It requires lifting operations to be planned, supervised and carried out safely, and equipment to be thoroughly examined.
• Health and Safety (Training for Employment) and general training duties: employers must provide adequate training, including for the operation of lift trucks.

The key approved code of practice is HSE document L117 — Rider-operated lift trucks: operator training and safe use. An approved code of practice has special legal status: if you are prosecuted and did not follow it, you must show you achieved the same standard another way, or a court will find against you. Treat L117 as your baseline.

Operator Training and Authorisation

Nobody should operate a forklift or telehandler unless they are trained, competent and specifically authorised by the employer to use that type of machine. Authorisation is a separate step from training — it is the employer formally confirming, in writing, that this named person may operate this category of truck in this workplace. Holding a certificate is not the same as being authorised.

Training should come from an accredited body so the standard is recognised and consistent. For counterbalance and reach forklifts the main accrediting organisations are RTITB, ITSSAR and AITT. For telehandlers and plant used on construction sites, operators typically hold CPCS (Construction Plant Competence Scheme) or NPORS cards. Match the scheme to the site: many principal contractors will only accept CPCS or NPORS for telehandlers on a construction site.

L117 describes training in three stages, and all three matter:

• Basic training: the core skills and knowledge needed to operate the truck safely — controls, manoeuvring, stacking, the stability principles.
• Specific job training: the knowledge for the particular workplace and tasks — the types of load, attachments, racking, gradients and operating conditions the operator will actually encounter.
• Familiarisation: supervised operation on the job, in the real workplace, applying the training under normal working conditions before the operator works unsupervised.

Training is not a one-off. Refresher training is recommended — commonly every three to five years — and should also be triggered by specific events: after an accident or near miss, when an operator has not driven for a while, when they change to a different type of truck or attachment, or when the workplace or working conditions change. Keep records of every operator's training, the truck categories they hold, and their authorisation. If HSE visits after an incident, those records are the first thing they ask for.

Daily Pre-Use Checks

Operators must carry out a pre-shift check before using the truck and report any defects. This is a PUWER expectation and a practical safety control — many serious failures are visible or detectable on a proper daily check. A defective truck must not be used until the fault is put right.

A daily pre-use check should cover at least:

• Tyres: condition, pressure (pneumatic), and no deep cuts or damage that affects stability.
• Forks and attachments: no cracks, bending, excessive wear or worn locking pins; attachments correctly fitted and rated.
• Hydraulics and leaks: no oil leaks, hoses sound, lift and tilt functions smooth.
• Brakes and steering: service brake, parking brake and steering all working correctly.
• Horn, lights and warning devices: horn, reversing alarm, beacons and lights all functioning.
• Seatbelt and restraint: present, undamaged and working — this is the operator's main protection in an overturn.
• Mast and lift chains: chains evenly tensioned, no damaged links, mast moving freely.
• Data plate and capacity information: present and legible so the operator can read the rated capacity and load chart.

Record the check and the result. A simple daily checklist, retained, both prompts the operator to look properly and gives you evidence the system is working. Make defect reporting easy and act on reports quickly — operators stop bothering with checks if reported faults are ignored.

LOLER Thorough Examination

Because forklifts and telehandlers are lifting equipment, LOLER requires a thorough examination by a competent person — a formal, in-depth inspection that goes well beyond the daily check. This is separate from servicing and from the operator's pre-use check.

The frequency depends on what the equipment lifts:

• At least every 12 months for equipment used to lift loads (goods, materials, pallets).
• At least every 6 months where the equipment is used to lift people, or in certain higher-risk configurations and where the examination scheme requires it.

Crucially, attachments are part of the lifting equipment. A jib, crane hook, work platform, fork extension or rotating clamp fitted to a forklift or telehandler must be included in the thorough examination regime in its own right. A common mistake is examining the truck but treating attachments as accessories — they are not. Keep the thorough examination reports; a truck that lifts loads and has no in-date LOLER report should not be working.

Capacity and the Load Chart

Never exceed the truck's rated capacity. But rated capacity is not a single number — it changes with the load centre and with any attachment fitted. The data plate gives the rated capacity at a stated load centre (commonly 500mm or 600mm). A load whose centre of gravity sits further forward than that reference reduces the safe capacity, sometimes dramatically.

Attachments reduce capacity too. Fitting a jib, fork extensions, a clamp or a work platform adds weight forward of the front axle and shifts the combined centre of gravity, lowering what the truck can safely lift. The truck's data plate must reflect the attachment in use.

For telehandlers this is critical, because extending and raising the boom moves the load away from the machine and dramatically reduces safe capacity. Telehandlers carry a load chart (load capacity indicator) showing how much can be lifted at each combination of boom angle and extension. The operator must read and follow the load chart for the actual lift — a load that is safe with the boom retracted can overturn the machine forwards when the boom is extended out and up. Modern machines have a longitudinal load moment indicator that warns the operator, but it does not replace understanding the chart.

Safe Operation

Most serious lift-truck incidents come down to a handful of operating fundamentals. Get these right and the risk falls sharply:

• Respect the stability triangle. A counterbalance forklift is stable within a triangle formed by the front wheels and the centre of the rear axle. Turning, braking or travelling on a slope with a raised load shifts the combined centre of gravity towards the edge of that triangle — push it past the edge and the truck overturns. Travel with the load low and tilted back.
• Travel with the forks low. Keep the load low and the mast tilted back when moving. A raised load raises the centre of gravity and makes an overturn far more likely.
• Do not exceed rated capacity. Read the data plate and, for telehandlers, the load chart for the actual boom position.
• Wear the seatbelt. In an overturn the worst outcome is the operator jumping or being thrown and crushed between the truck and the ground. The seatbelt keeps them within the protective cab or frame. This is the single most important habit.
• Maintain good visibility and safe speeds. Travel in reverse where the load blocks forward view, slow at junctions and blind corners, and use the horn.
• Never lift people on the forks. People may only be raised on a properly designed, integrated or approved working platform that is secured and rated for the task — never on pallets, fork tines or a makeshift cage.

Pedestrian Segregation and Wider Site Controls

Pedestrians struck by lift trucks is one of the most common causes of serious injury. The most effective control is to keep people and trucks apart by design:

• Segregate vehicles from pedestrians using designated traffic routes, marked walkways, physical barriers and separate doors where practicable.
• Use a banksman or signaller for reversing, blind areas and complex manoeuvres where segregation alone is not enough.
• Manage traffic with one-way systems, speed limits, mirrors at blind corners and clear signage.
• Park safely when unattended: forks lowered to the ground, controls in neutral, parking brake applied, and the keys removed so the truck cannot be used by an unauthorised person.

Site traffic management is not a one-off plan — review it when layouts, deliveries or activities change, and make sure visiting drivers and contractors are briefed on your routes and rules.

Quick Reference: Forklift and Telehandler Safety