Technical standards
Industrial trucks are sophisticated, powerful machines. To ensure the continued safe, efficient and environmentally-friendly performance of industrial trucks, they must be:
- designed according to the latest technical standards and best-practice principles
- maintained regularly and professionally
- operated carefully to the letter of the law
On top of standards
Keeping track of industrial truck technical standards is a full-time occupation. Because there are so many different kinds of industrial trucks, there are also numerous standards governing design, manufacture, operation and maintenance. These are continually reviewed and revised at an international level.
Standards do not exist in a vacuum. They not only affect manufacturers and users, they are also informed by manufacturers and users. However, this is not an easy dialogue to facilitate. It requires an organisation that can command respect from manufacturers, users and regulatory bodies, while maintaining a clear channel of dialogue between all of them. That organisation is BITA.
BITA's Technical Policy Committee
BITA plays a key role as an intermediary influencer and facilitator through the work of its Technical Policy Committee (TPC). Via the TPC, BITA ensures that when regulators and standard-setters maintain and extend best practice, they hear the voices of BITA members whose businesses will in turn be affected by fresh regulations.
BITA’s TPC also plays a valuable role in the opposite direction, by alerting operators and users to the requirements and consequences of new standards, distilling the key points and actions required by new standards both in regular executive briefings provided to BITA members, and in the frequently updated BITA Guidance Notes.
Vigilant over maintenance 
Industrial trucks work hard for their living, day in and day out. That means they need regular, professional and thorough checks and maintenance to continue operating safely and legally.
Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, most industrial trucks require a Thorough Examination check at least once a year, once they are a year old. BITA has joined forces with the Fork-Lift Truck Association to create a Thorough Examination accreditation scheme for inspection providers, to assure the highest standards at all times.