Certificate for driving motorized transport equipment

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    Explanatory notes on title 3 on mobile work equipment, whether or not self-propelled, of book IV of the Code on Well-being at Work

    People often ask which certificates a driver of motorized transport equipment must have acquired. Although the regulations on Well-being at Work do not provide for certificates, the following elements must be taken into account:

    1. The driver of a self-propelled transport equipment exercises a safety function in the sense of Article I.4-1, §2, 1° of the Code, so that he must have the medical fitness, to be determined by the occupational physician.
    2. Such drivers are subject to the obligation of information and training by their employer, as is the case for any worker in general (Articles I.2-16 to I.2-21 of the Code).
      Since driving this type of transport equipment is clearly not without risk, employers often turn to private organizers of training courses for forklift drivers to provide this training.
      It is customary for these organizers to issue a certificate to the graduates at the end of the course.
      However, the legal and regulatory provisions on Well-being at Work do not provide for any recognition or obligation to organize such courses.
    3. Moreover, Article IV.3-7, 1° of the Code prescribes the following: "Self-propelled mobile work equipment shall only be driven by workers who have received adequate training in the safe driving of such equipment".
    4. The members of the hierarchical line are responsible for, among other things, “verifying that tasks are distributed in such a way that the various tasks are performed by workers who have the necessary competence and have received the required training and instructions" (Article I.2-11, second paragraph, 5° of the Code).
    5. It is prohibited for student workers to operate motorized transport equipment (article X.3-8 of the Code). However, student workers over the age of 18 may drive motorized transport equipment with a low lifting height, under the conditions laid down in title 3 on young people at work of book X of the Code.