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The increasing number of accidents in warehouses has led the French health agency to propose a procedure to avoid dangerous situations involving forklift drivers. The public French agency is in charge of workers' protection against accident risks. Because the number of accidents increased, this has led to a double set of obligations.

First, it led to the introduction of a compulsory training. This enforcement works for the training programme as well as for the test. Until the implementation of C.A.C.E.S., no common means allowed the companies to assess the abilities of a forklift driver. A large number of training organisations provided specific trainings for driving forklifts with various contents and durations.

Second, it was obvious in a preventive approach that one way to prevent damages was to institute a national procedure for the evaluation of the knowledge and the skills of forklift drivers in all companies. This search for a common validation of the skills results in the development of an examination/ a compulsory test.

C.A.C.E.S. was first implemented in 1998. In order to prevent accidents and/or dangerous situations due to motorised mobile handling or lifting machines, the Safety Prevention Committee section of the French Health Care National agency advocate the creation of a training for forklift drivers. The idea of the agency was that the acquisition of a standard knowledge to drive safely could guarantee a minimum level of safety and improve driving conditions in warehouses. One important point was that this specific requirement had to be specified in the Code and other statutory texts. This French initiative has a direct link with the legal process that began in the late 80s at the European level.

The agency implemented a training programme and a specific test to help forklift drivers to avoid risks. Moreover, the requirement imposes that a formal authorisation is given by the company to the driver at the end of the compulsory training. The forklift driver needs this certificate to perform his job. To get this authorisation, the trainee has to successfully pass the tests defined for each type of handling machine, both theoretical and practical.

Concerning this C.A.C.E.S. test, the examination process is defined as follows: the training organisations that are considered competent to test forklift drivers on their skills and on their knowledge of safety rules, have to be certified. A frequent check is realised within the training organisations.

C.A.C.E.S. means that the driver must get an authorisation from the company to drive. This objective means that the driver must take the following steps:

1. The industrial medicine authorisation of the driver. The applicants to C.A.C.E.S. take a medical examination. The ability to drive in safe conditions has to be approved by the doctor.
2. The trainer provides adapted training and completes the training programme, when the driver fails the exam.
3. The drivers are assessed by a tester person. This person is in charge of the assessment of the drivers' competences, in accordance with a framework of competences.
4. The C.A.C.E.S. certificate is finally delivered by "testers organisations"". The tester organisation may be a training organisation or a company, the only obligation being the certification of competences. A number of certifying bodies are involved in issuing certificates of training. Ultimately all training courses will have to get this accreditation.
5. The company manager informs the driver of the risks at work and of specific safety conditions in his own company.

Last, he/she provides the authorisation to drive forklifts.

C.A.C.E.S. has a validity of ten years for building sites' machines and of five years for other working equipment (subject to the yearly medical check-up).

The recommendation takes into account the different types of handling machines. For practical as well as for theoretical examination, there are six levels for each type of handling machines and forklifts.

The materials concerned by the driving authorisation are:

• Turned cranes.
• Mobile cranes.
• Auxiliary cranes for loading vehicles.
• Motorized handling fork-lifts with a driver.
• Motorized lifting platforms for people.
• Building sites' machines operated by remote control or with a driver.
• Cranes and all types of machines used in housing and equipment industries are not included in these requirements, because a specific requirement (R 372) exists for this category of drivers.

Because the recommendation does not specify the training duration, the trainer must adapt the training programme and duration.

In order to define the contents of the C.A.C.E.S. training, the French Health Care National agency asked the Transport technical committees to promote a compulsory process of training for this category of drivers. They provided the list of compulsory requirements in terms of competences.

The key competences are the following:

• a part dedicated to THEORY (see annex 1)
  Duties and responsibilities of the equipment operator
  General safety rules common to all equipment categories
  Construction equipment technology
  Traffic law
  Specific safety regulations
  Equipment-specific technology and know-how
  Theoretical evaluation

• a part dedicated to practical competences (HANDS-ON)
  Daily verifications
  Circulation
  Site work
  Shift down operations
  Hands-on evaluation

C.A.C.E.S. ensures the companies that their drivers know about the updated rules and legal requirements that are required to fulfil forklift driver's activities.

One problem is related to the successive steps of training and authorisation. There is a transition period for drivers, due to the fact that trainers who train candidates for C.A.C.E.S. must be certified. A delay occurs frequently between the moment when the companies express their need for drivers' trainings, and the moment when the trainers obtain certification to train for C.A.C.E.S. The solution has been the creation of real transitional periods, during which training organisations can train for C.A.C.E.S., even while waiting for the formal authorisation.

Another important difficulty is related to the link between the quality of training, the equipment available and the results of C.A.C.E.S. exams obtained by the trainees. From one training organisation to another, the quality of training is largely influenced by the quality of the equipment. Therefore, the prices charged by the training organisations depend on training modules and the duration of training.

Last, the location of the training also has consequences for the final certification: when it takes place in a company, even though the syllabus is defined, the equipment does not always allow the trainees to go through all the exercises or the practices that are required (because of the variety of warehouse equipment). The only solution is to ignore certain training parts, or to train drivers at some other location.

• Before the creation of C.A.C.E.S., there was no standard training. Now, C.A.C.E.S. gives forklift drivers a standard level and it is made visible which increases their position within the companies and in the labour market at large. This standard level strongly contributed to the development and the restructuring of more relevant diplomas within the educational system and more complete training courses for adults.
• Governmental agencies promote series of requirements for the use of these machines (such as forklifts); these requirements finally form the conditions to achieve C.A.C.E.S.
• It strongly contributes to the safety of forklift drivers and reduces costs of the companies and of the French Health Care National agency, and this is its main objective.
• Finally, it gives the companies a real training culture in this operational working area. Even if some employers regret that the greater part of their training budget has to be spent on forklift driving trainings, due to the good dissemination of the safety rules in the warehouses and the creation of an official programme that ensures a minimum knowledge, they are positive.

The first aim of the certificate called C.A.C.E.S. is that it protects of warehouse workers from accidents at work. As forklift driving is one of the most risky activities within warehouses, C.A.C.E.S. is an efficient answer to this serious problem.

In addition, C.A.C.E.S. creates conditions for the recognition of competences of the forklift driver. This is based on a classification of various types of forklifts and it develops adequate training modules for each type.

The different modules of C.A.C.E.S. are easily transferable. They are based on a framework of competences: it is composed of a series of operations that each driver has to know and to perform correctly. C.A.C.E.S. offers an opportunity to see the development of a complete set of tests and the certification of trainers under the same conditions.