Responsibility for forklift safety sits with the employer, and in practice with the managers and supervisors who run the operation, not only with the operator in the seat. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) place duties on the business to provide safe equipment, safe systems of work, competent operators and adequate supervision. HSE’s Approved Code of Practice L117 states that managers and supervisors of lift truck operations should themselves be trained, and HSE investigations into forklift injuries routinely find the failure in how the operation was managed.
Lift trucks are involved in a large share of serious workplace transport injuries every year. The operator is usually the person who gets blamed on the day, and the supervisor is usually the person who gets asked the hard questions afterwards. This guide sets out what the law expects of the people in charge.
The legal framework in plain terms
- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The employer must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees and others affected by the work. That includes pedestrians in a warehouse and visiting drivers in a yard.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Risk assessment, competent persons, and training when staff are recruited or exposed to new risks.
- PUWER 1998. Work equipment must be suitable, maintained, inspected, and used only by people who have received adequate training. Regulation 9 covers training; it applies to supervisors and managers as well as operators.
- LOLER 1998. Lifting equipment, which includes forklifts, must be thoroughly examined by a competent person at least every 12 months, or every six months if used to lift people, and the reports kept.
- ACOP L117, Rider-operated lift trucks. HSE’s code of practice on operator training. It has special legal status: if you are prosecuted and did not follow it, you must show you complied with the law in some other way.
What L117 says about supervisors
L117 is usually read as a document about operator training. It also says that managers and supervisors should have enough training to supervise the operation safely, understand the risks, and recognise unsafe practice when they see it. A supervisor who cannot tell whether a truck is overloaded, whether a load is stable, or whether an operator’s authorisation covers the truck they are driving cannot supervise. If you want the operator side of the picture, our guide to whether forklift training is a legal requirement covers it.
The supervisor’s duties in practice
Authorising operators
Every operator should have written authorisation from the employer to drive specific truck types, based on basic training, specific job training and familiarisation. The supervisor is normally the person who confirms familiarisation and signs the authorisation. Allowing an operator to use a truck type they are not authorised for is one of the most common findings in an HSE investigation.
Daily pre-use checks
Operators must carry out a pre-use check before each shift, and the supervisor must make sure it happens and that reported defects are acted on. A truck with a reported fault that is still in use two days later is a supervisory failure.
Site layout and segregation
Most forklift fatalities involve a pedestrian being struck. Segregation of trucks and people, marked walkways, one-way systems, speed limits, mirrors at blind corners and rules on where trucks may not go are all site management decisions. The supervisor enforces them under production pressure, which is exactly when they get broken.
Loads and racking
The supervisor is responsible for making sure loads are within the truck’s rated capacity, that racking is loaded within its safe working load, and that racking damage is reported and repaired. Our guide to racking inspection requirements explains the inspection regime.
Refresher training and monitoring
L117 does not set a fixed refresher interval, but recommends refresher training where operators have not used a truck for some time, have had an incident or near miss, or have been seen operating unsafely. Only a supervisor who is watching will know. We cover the detail in how often forklift operators need refresher training.
Where investigations find fault
When HSE investigates a lift truck injury, the questions go up the chain quickly. Was the operator trained and authorised for that truck? Was the truck maintained and examined? Was there a safe system of work for that task? Was it being followed? Who was supervising, and what training did they have? A supervisor who cannot answer those questions is not protected by the fact that the operator made the final mistake. Managers and, in serious cases, directors can be prosecuted personally.
The same principles apply to the wider supervisory role. Our guide to the supervisor’s health and safety duties covers the general position.
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An online Level 3 course for supervisors and managers who run forklift and MHE operations. Covers PUWER, LOLER, ACOP L117 training duties, site layout, racking, day-to-day supervision and incident investigation. Six to eight hours, NFAQ certified.
Frequently asked questions
Does a supervisor need a forklift licence?
Not to supervise, unless they also operate trucks. They need enough training to understand the risks and to judge whether operators are working safely. If they ever drive a truck, they need the same training and authorisation as any operator.
Can the operator be prosecuted instead of the supervisor?
Both can be. Employees have their own duty under section 7 of the Act to take reasonable care. In practice HSE looks first at whether the employer provided training, equipment and supervision, and prosecutions of supervisors and managers are more common than prosecutions of operators.
How often should forklifts be thoroughly examined?
At least every 12 months under LOLER, or every six months if the truck is used to lift people, for example with a working platform. This is separate from routine maintenance and pre-use checks.
Is agency operator training the agency’s problem?
No. The site employer must check that agency operators are trained and authorise them for the trucks and tasks on that site, including familiarisation with site rules.
This article was published in October 2026 by National Compliance Training. Regulations change, so always check the latest guidance from GOV.UK for the current position. This article does not constitute legal advice.