Workers’ lives are being put at risk due to recruiters relying upon a fictional ‘fork-lift truck licence’ to verify skills, according to trade body The Fork Lift Truck Association.

Under current rules, employers are required to issue written authorisation allowing trained staff to operate any fork-lift truck; however, this is restricted to that task, location and equipment, and is not transferable to another company.

FLTA chief executive David Ellison says: “Because recent training certificates are mistaken for some kind of ‘licence’, many operators are given carte blanche to use fork-lift trucks without the right training.

“The results of that can be disastrous; for them and for colleagues. At least one employee is hospitalised every day by a fork-lift truck in the UK alone – two thirds of victims are pedestrians working nearby. Many of the injuries are permanent and, tragically, they’re sometimes fatal.”