GLOBAL chocolate brand Nestlé which has its UK confectionary headquarters in York has been rewarded for its attitude towards fork lift safety.

A finalist in the Safe Site category, Nestlé's Haxby Road warehouse was awarded highly commended in the Fork Lift Truck Association's (FLTA) Annual Awards for Excellence.

The FLTA judging panel was impressed with a project by Nestlé devised to keep pedestrians and trucks segregated.

The initiative started with training to ensure employees understood the dangers of interaction between lift trucks and people on foot.

Dividing the York warehouse into sectors, the team looked at each task in each zone, listing every different reason for staff to be there. Where possible, practices were changed to eliminate the need for pedestrians to enter.

While keeping as much as possible of the warehouse pedestrian-free, barrier-protected walkways were provided to give pedestrian access where it was essential. The structures even included a skywalk, suspended from the ceiling, to ensure that no one walked across the warehouse’s busy input bays.

FLTA chief executive Peter Harvey said: "In the Safe Site section of our Awards we recognise teams who have looked carefully at their site and the way in which fork lift trucks are used on it, identified any weaknesses, put them right and seen improvements in safety as a result. Other companies can learn a lot from the fine example set by Nestlé."