NZFIA News

the nZ Forklift Industry association is on the cusp of becoming a large organisation as it grows its support to its members and the wider industry.

In thE SILVErcarD Training article, you will read that NZFIA is now providing a training programme like the EWP product but for forklift operation. This is a big step towards improving the quality and consistency of training in the marketplace. Since our last newsletter, the association has been very busy. There is much going on in the forklift space and the association is being involved in a lot of it and front footing a couple of topics. It would be fair to say that the sleeping giant of forklifts is starting to stir, and the association is really starting to add value to the industry through its members. The last six months has seen the association get a few projects under way or completed. These included the WorkSafe Forklift Operator Safety Workshops, where we promoted the association to users as a channel for information and support in the industry. We have also started the project of putting together an Industry Good Practice Guideline for all things forklifts. This reference document is going to cover everything you need to know about forklift ownership, fit for use, maintenance, operation plus many more topics. Why “Good Practice” and not “Best Practice”? Simple really, this is an Industry written document that creates a standard for the industry. We are describing what good practices looks like and leaving an opportunity for industry to improve potentially to a better standard. If our document was called “Best”, we couldn’t improve once we hit that mark. We don’t want to restrict our ability to continually seek safer, better ways to do things. We can measure good practices but because we will never know what best looks like, we can never measure ourselves against it. “Good” is a great start! The plan is to have this document live in early 2022, with WorkSafe pointing to it as a document of reference soon after, which would then allow the ACOP from 1995 to be revoked. “For Industry, By Industry”, we as a collective will be able to grow the standards around forklifts, making forklifts and their use safer going forward. thE aSSocIatIon hELD it’s AGM in early October. As part of the proceedings, we had two board members stepping down – Michael Biddick (Forklift Solutions, Auckland) and Jonny Orr (Forklift Hire Services, Blenheim) who we thank for their input since the association’s inception. Two new nominations were received and voted onto the board. Des Walsh of Central Group, Wellington and Jamie TeRangi of the Independent forklift Company, Christchurch are the new appointees. They both bring new ideas and energy to the table as we grow as an association. ■ Watch this space for new initiatives and other developments as we work towards building a stronger association.