HSE wants compulsory plant training

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is to put forward proposals for compulsory training on all "workplace transport equipment" and will consult over a three- or five-year retesting regime.

The proposals are being drafted following analysis of results from the consultation document Prevention of workplace transport accidents issued last year.

One of the first findings was the need to clarify the guidance, and respondents expressed a wish that training should be backed by law.

Any licensing system is likely to cover all construction plant and equipment, including excavators that do not travel throughout much of their working cycle. Plant used underground would not be covered.

Such a system would require a change to Clause 9 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations that specifies "adequate training". Changes would require a full public consultation, a regulatory impact assessment and would need to go before Parliament.

This, together with the need to agree standards with industry, could delay the introduction of any licensing scheme for some categories of vehicle for several years.

Where standards already exist, for rider-operated lift trucks for example, the HSE will seek to expedite their launch.

In a survey by CJ's sister publication PMJ, 83% of respondents favoured making competency cards a legal requirement.