Fork Lift Operator

Company	Leicestershire County CouncilSee more
Address	Leicester, Leicestershire
Category	Logistics & Warehouse

Job description

Organisation: Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)

Work Location: Barnsdale Way, Grove Park, Enderby, Leicester, LE19 1ES

Salary: £23,118- £23,505 per annum (pro-rata for part-time) (pay award pending)

Working Hours: 37 Hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 20/3/24

ESPO is responsible for the supply of goods and services to the Consortium Members of Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Leicester City, Lincolnshire, Peterborough City, Warwickshire, Norfolk and other public bodies within the area and nearby. As a means of providing part of the service, ESPO maintains a 120,000sq ft warehouse at Grove Park for the storage and distribution of a wide range (approximately 11,000 different items), of educational, stationery and cleaning materials and other goods to schools, offices, homes and other establishments and distributes goods to a planned schedule using a fleet of its own and contractors’ vehicles.

Goods are stored within the warehouse on pallet racking up to 12m high, and in ‘picking’ locations at lower levels and in bins. The aisles between the pallet racks are 3.1m wide and electric reach trucks are used to handle the pallets within the warehouse. Gas powered counterbalance trucks are also used externally for the offloading of lorries. VNAs (Very Narrow Aisle) trucks are to be used in the extension storage area.

About the Role

The forklift truck driver is, as part of a small team, responsible for the transport and location of stock throughout the warehouse, as required both for storage and to facilitate the picking and despatch of customers’ orders, and associated activities,

This role is a “Safety Critical Post” and, consequently, subject to random drug and alcohol testing in accordance with our policies and procedures. If successful in being appointed to the role, you will be required to agree to a planned test and achieve a negative result as part of any conditional offer of employment and/or during your probationary period. A copy of our Substance Misuse Policy and Procedure is available upon request.

The movement, location storage and retrieval of all palletised goods, using a reach truck, or counterbalance truck, or VNA truck in accordance with the safe systems of work; and the location of goods manually when appropriate.
Completion of work as assigned by the line manager (section leader/assistant), in accord with relevant priorities. Current range of duties may include ‘putting pallets away’, replenishing aisle locations, or replenishing bin locations, and include recording the detail of all movements efficiently, normally by use of Radio Data Terminals (RDT), or when required direct to PC, or manual hard copy, in accord with current procedures.
The replenishment of aisle and bin locations will require (as well as the transfer of the complete full pallet) manual handling work off the truck, including some (or all of) handling of empty pallets, tidying of residual stocks, manually transferring stocks from storage pallet to aisle picking locations, and transferring stocks from the storage pallets/cages into bin picking locations, and returning residual storage stocks to the designated storage location, updating the relevant movement records efficiently, as appropriate, normally, by use of RDTs.
When moving and locating pallets, ensure that all loaded pallets are safe for transit and storage on racking and all items are safely and securely stacked using stretch wrap, or banding, as appropriate and pallets/contents are clearly identified, before placing, or replacing into storage.
Also, to be aware of pallet load weight and weight distribution and safe working weight capacities throughout the warehouse storage facilities.
The prescribed operator’s maintenance and pre-operational safety checks on the mechanical handling equipment (MHE) at the start of each use. The exchange and placing ‘on charge’ of batteries or the exchange and safe storage of gas cylinders in accord with safe systems of work.
Advising the Section Leader of any suspected defects, or need for maintenance of the Fork Lift trucks, pallet racking, or other equipment, as found.
Monitor the condition of all pallets and cages in use and putting all those requiring maintenance or repair in the prescribed place.
As assigned carry out Stock Audit duties, in accord with current procedures, ensuring that all stocks are efficiently identified and counted, and details updated using an RDT.
When required, the ‘offloading’ of vehicles in the service yard will be using a counterbalance truck to receive supplier’s stock with the minimum of delay and check the correctness of suppliers’ paperwork for the goods being delivered.
Offload of pallets, parcels, other goods etc, and sign for that received in accord with procedures.
Checking parcels in accord with procedures. Move and locate parcels and pallets to designated areas, as appropriate.
The loading of goods (returns) onto suppliers’ vehicles, when required, under the guidance of the driver.
If occasionally not required as a Forklift Truck Driver, the operator will carry out the normal duties of a Goods Inwards or Replenishment Storekeeper, to a competent standard, or other duties within the warehouse reasonably requested.
The post holder may be required to attend, training, refresher and familiarisation courses, as determined by their training needs and the needs of the organisation.
Any other duties as may reasonably, from time to time, be required.
In the course of their duties if any miss-located stock is found, inform the Line Manager and with their guidance the driver will use their operational knowledge to interrogate the computer system take corrective action to maintain accurate stock records.
Train and monitor new recruits in the operational techniques as directed by the Line Manager.
At appropriate times use discretion to consolidate or relocate small quantities of stock remaining in a storage location to improve space utilisation.
Maintain a level of fitness commensurate with the high level of physical effort required to complete aisle and small bin replenishment.
To be aware of surroundings whilst working in the warehouse environment and to look out for anything that has the potential to cause harm and to submit hazard reports if potentially unsafe situations are encountered.
To use good manual handling techniques when lifting or carrying as per the training received.
Health and Safety
To maintain a safe working environment, it is essential to maintain a high level of concentration throughout the whole shift while operating a forklift truck in a pedestrianised environment.
This post is subject to medical review for a Forklift Truck Operator in accord with recommendation of the Occupational Health Advisor.
To be aware of their surroundings with regard to safety and to report to their line managers any unsafe or potentially hazardous situations they encounter so these hazards can be rectified/made safe.
Due to the nature of the work within the warehouse, a considerable amount of bending and lifting is required.
All staff shall operate with a duty of care both for themselves, and with consideration and care for other employees and all other users of the warehouse in which pedestrians, stacker trucks and other MHE are operating.
All staff are required to wear a ‘high visibility’ waistcoat and appropriate protective footwear whilst working in the warehouse and service yard. Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be provided by ESPO.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

Current certificate of competence and relevant experience required for the effective operation of reach truck to 12m and / or (if relevant) counterbalance truck and VNA truck.
Be physically able to lift, carry and locate goods of up to 25kg weight into bins and pallet locations, and operate a hand/pump truck as required and to do so in accord with manual handling guidelines as per training received on induction.
Must be flexible and adaptable to work across the section, as required in accord with the needs of the organisation, and to meet customers’ requirements.
Competent user of computer terminal/pc, RDT and other hand-held devices, as required.
We’d also expect you to share and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the interview process.

What we offer:

Flexible working opportunities and access to employee benefits portal with car lease scheme.
25days annual leave plus bank holidays (increasing to 30after 5 years’ service), and a scheme to buy additional leave.
Local Government Pension Scheme with a generous employer contribution.
Great office location next to Fosse Park, with free on-site parking and easy access to M1 and M69.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual’s personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of ESPO. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Bernard Lowrey – Operations Manager

Telephone: 0116 294 4118 | m: 07748 180760 |

Email: b.lowrey@espo.org

How to Apply

ESPO is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services we offer our customers. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the customers we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.

To apply for this job, please click ‘Apply Now’. You will need to upload a supporting statement as part of your application which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. For more information, see the section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Employee Service Centre: .

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Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: £23,118.00-£23,505.00 per year

Benefits: