IN Brief:
- The 12th UK National Forklift Safety Day takes place on 9 June 2026.
- UKMHA data shows customer-site work accounts for 85% of recorded technician incidents.
- The campaign promotes toolbox talks, site induction checks, and the Safe Working Area Charter.
The UK Material Handling Association is putting technician safety at the centre of the 12th UK National Forklift Safety Day, with this year’s campaign taking place on 9 June 2026.
The campaign focuses on the engineers and service technicians who maintain material handling equipment across customer sites, warehouses, workshops, and industrial facilities. It broadens the forklift safety discussion beyond vehicle operation, pedestrian segregation, and driver training to include the conditions in which equipment is inspected, repaired, serviced, and returned to use.
UKMHA workplace injury data shows that UK forklift suppliers lost, on average, more than 1,000 working days each year due to workplace injuries between 2019 and 2025. Around 85% of recorded incidents involved technicians working at customer premises, placing site conditions and shared responsibility at the centre of this year’s campaign.
Nearly 40% of incidents were caused by poor manual handling or simple slips and trips. More than 20% of injuries resulting in time off work were linked to manual handling issues, while one third of incidents occurred when technicians were not actively working on the material handling equipment itself.
David Goss, Technical Director of UKMHA, said: “Every year in the UK material handling industry, one in every 80 people suffers a serious injury, and many of these incidents are entirely preventable.”
He added: “We have published the technician accident data on the National Forklift Safety Day website. The figures show that lost-time injuries result in an average of more than two weeks off work. More importantly, behind every statistic is a person, and a moment that could have been avoided.”
UKMHA is supporting the campaign with bite-sized toolbox talks covering common workplace risks and practical safety measures. Topics include manual handling techniques, safe access and egress from equipment, and LPG cylinder handling.
The association is also promoting a Site Induction Checklist and encouraging businesses to sign the UKMHA Safe Working Area Charter. The charter is designed to improve site conditions for visiting technicians and strengthen collaboration between equipment service providers and end users.
The campaign builds on the technician-safety theme set out for National Forklift Safety Day 2026, now moving from campaign selection into launch-day activity and practical resources. Technician safety depends not only on the competence of service engineers, but also on the environment they enter when working at customer premises.
That shared responsibility is becoming more important as material handling fleets become more technically complex. Electric trucks, lithium-ion batteries, telematics, automation interfaces, charging infrastructure, and advanced control systems are increasing the range of tasks technicians need to perform. Many of those tasks happen on active sites where production, picking, loading, and transport movements continue around the maintenance visit.
Safety improvement is also being pursued through process design. Coverage of safer forklift operations in container loading through automation has shown how reducing vehicle movements and manual exposure can change risk at the dock. NFSD 2026 brings the same logic to service visits, where housekeeping, induction, access, and safe working areas can prevent injuries before technical work begins.
The campaign’s emphasis on manual handling and slips and trips is deliberate. Forklift risk is often associated with collisions, overturns, and pedestrian interaction, but technician injuries frequently arise from routine work around the truck: lifting, carrying, accessing equipment, moving cylinders, entering unfamiliar work areas, or navigating congested sites.
National Forklift Safety Day remains date-led, but UKMHA’s objective is aimed at everyday working practice. Customer sites that provide safe access, induction, lighting, housekeeping, isolation arrangements, and clear working areas reduce risk for technicians before any spanner is lifted.
