HSE to consider plant ‘licence’

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has indicated it is prepared to consider the introduction of formal qualifications for plant operators in a bid to reduce workplace transport accidents.

Plans outlined for consideration by Carol Grainger, head of the HSE's workplace transport policy unit, include a formal qualification for workplace transport operators, a process of formal re-testing and medical tests for those aged over 45 (similar to those required by LGV drivers).

Grainger pointed out these proposals would need support from a minister before they could be put in place.

Speaking at a plant operator training seminar organised by the Off-Highway Plant and Equipment Research Centre and hosted by the HSE, Grainger added that the HSE hadn't yet taken a decision that this was the right way to go. "We've not laid down the rules and said 'this is the way we're going'; we've not even gone to external consultation yet. What we're saying is 'this is what we're thinking about - what do you think? Are we barking up the right tree?'."

The moves to consider compulsory operator training are set against a backdrop of attempts by the HSE to define competence on a practical level. The "groundbreaking" approved code of practice for lift truck operators launched several years ago was the first HSE attempt to do this, said Grainger.

However, she added this had ducked the issue of competence and the extent to which it was separate from training, an issue which the HSE now hopes to confront.