The pallet truck is the most-used bit of handling equipment in most UK warehouses, and the one that gets the least thought. It has no engine to respect, no licence attached to it and no obvious danger — which is exactly why it accounts for a steady stream of crushed feet, strained backs and toppled loads. This guide covers how to use a pallet truck safely, step by step: the pre-use checks, the correct technique, the mistakes that cause most incidents, what pallet truck training should actually cover, and what UK law expects of you as an employer.
The same machine goes by several names, and searching for the wrong one is why operators end up watching an American forklift video. A pallet truck, a pump truck, a hand pallet truck and a pallet jack are the same thing; learning how to operate a pump truck, how to operate a hand pallet truck and how to use a pallet jack are all the same lesson. A powered or electric pallet truck is the same geometry with the lift and drive taken over by a battery.
This is a summary of good practice from a supplier's point of view, not legal advice. Your own risk assessment and the manufacturer's instructions for your specific truck always take precedence.
How to use a pallet truck: the eight steps
The short version, for anyone who wants the sequence before the reasoning. Each step is explained properly further down.
- Walk round the truck. Forks, wheels, hydraulics, control lever, handle — thirty seconds, before the first load of the shift.
- Check the pallet, not just the truck. Damaged bottom boards, overhang, a top-heavy or leaning stack — reject or restack it before you touch it.
- Set the lever to neutral so the forks stay down while you position them.
- Enter the pallet square on and all the way in, slowly, so the load sits over the load rollers rather than the fork tips.
- Set the lever to raise and pump the handle until the pallet just clears the floor — usually two or three pumps. No higher.
- Move off pulling the truck, walking forwards with the load trailing behind you, looking where you are going.
- Position, then lower with the lever, keeping your feet clear of the fork path and the wheels.
- Withdraw straight out, lower the forks fully and park the truck clear of walkways with the handle upright.
If any step feels like a fight — the forks will not enter, the pump will not lift, the truck will not roll — stop and find out why. The same sequence, with the extra height and stability rules that come with raising a load, is covered in our guide to using a pallet stacker safely. Force applied to a pallet truck is what turns a maintenance job into an injury.
Know your truck first — and how it actually works
A manual pallet truck is raised by a hydraulic hand pump and moved entirely by the operator. Pumping the handle drives oil into a cylinder; the cylinder pushes a linkage that pivots the load rollers at the fork tips downward, which levers the forks up. That is why a pallet truck lifts only 100–120 mm and no higher — the whole mechanism is a jack designed to get a pallet clear of the floor for transport, not to raise it to working height. If you need the load up at bench height, that is a high lift truck or a pallet stacker, not a pump truck.
A powered pallet truck drives both the lift and the travel from a battery, with the operator walking alongside and steering. The safety principles overlap, but the risks differ: manual trucks are a manual-handling problem, powered trucks are a moving-vehicle problem.
Whichever you have, know its rating. Most standard manual trucks carry 2,000–2,500 kg on 1,150 × 540 mm forks. Powered models in our range run from 1,500 kg up to 5,000 kg. That number is the maximum for an evenly distributed load on a sound, level floor — not a target to aim at with a badly stacked pallet on a ramp. An off-centre load reduces the truck's effective capacity, and no pallet truck rating assumes a gradient — our guide to load ratings explained covers how these figures are derived.
Pallet truck safety checks: the two-minute walk-round
PUWER expects work equipment to be maintained in efficient working order. In practice, that means somebody looks at the truck before it is used, and faults get reported rather than worked around. Check:
- Forks — straight, not bent, cracked or splayed. A bent fork will not enter a pallet cleanly and will lift unevenly.
- Wheels and rollers — free-running, not flat-spotted, not wrapped in shrink wrap or strapping. Seized load rollers are the single most common cause of a truck that "won't pull".
- Hydraulics — the forks lift when pumped, hold under load without creeping down, and lower under control. Any oil on the ram or on the floor beneath the truck is a fault, not a quirk.
- Control lever — all three positions (raise, lower, neutral) engage cleanly. A lever stuck in "lower" makes the truck unusable safely.
- Handle — no play at the pivot, grips intact.
- Powered trucks only — brakes, horn, emergency reverse (belly button), key or code control, battery charge, and that the charger lead is disconnected before moving off.
Log the checks. If a truck fails, tag it out of service and physically remove it from the floor — a "don't use that one" verbal instruction lasts about a shift.
Lifting the load correctly
Assess the pallet before you touch it. Is it damaged, overhanging, badly stacked, top-heavy or wet? A broken bottom board will collapse mid-move. Restack or reject it rather than manoeuvring around it.
Approach square on. Line the forks up with the pallet openings and enter slowly and straight. Ramming a pallet to seat the forks is how bottom boards break and how nearby stock gets pushed over.
Go all the way in. Forks should run the full length of the pallet so the load sits over the load rollers, not cantilevered off the fork tips. Partial entry is the classic cause of a tipping pallet.
Lift only as high as you need. Just enough to clear the floor and any joints, ramps or thresholds on your route. A high load raises the centre of gravity and reduces stability for no benefit.
Check the load is stable before you start moving, and re-check after the first few metres.
Moving safely: push or pull?
On the level, pull the truck so it follows behind you and you can see where you are going. This is the standard technique and it keeps your body out of the space between the truck and anything you might collide with.
The exception is a gradient. On any slope, keep yourself on the uphill side of the load — push the truck up an incline, and go down backwards so the load is never running towards you. Better still, avoid slopes with a manual truck altogether; a loaded pump truck on a ramp can build momentum faster than an operator can stop it, and standard pallet trucks are designed for flat, sound internal floors. If your site has ramps, docks or yards on the route, that is an argument for a powered truck with proper braking, or a rough terrain truck for outdoor surfaces.
The rest is unglamorous discipline: walk, don't run; keep the load low; take corners wide and slow; look in the direction of travel rather than at the load; never let anyone ride on the truck or the pallet; keep feet clear of the wheel path; and don't use a pallet truck to move anything that isn't on a suitable pallet or skid.
Lowering, withdrawing and parking
The end of the move is where most crushed feet happen, because the operator's attention has already moved on to the next job.
- Stop square to the drop position before you lower. Straightening a pallet after it is down means dragging it, and dragging is how pallets break.
- Stand clear of the fork path. Feet go outside the line of the forks and outside the wheel path, not between them.
- Lower under control with the lever rather than letting it drop. On a truck with a slow-lowering control valve, use it — that feature exists to stop shock loading on the pallet and the goods.
- Withdraw straight out. Reversing at an angle is what splays fork tips and splits pallet boards.
- Lower the forks fully when parked. A raised fork at shin height in a walkway is a trip and impact hazard nobody sees.
- Park out of pedestrian routes, clear of fire exits and racking legs, with the handle upright — a handle left flat is another trip hazard, and it strains the pivot.
When the pallet truck won't lift
A pallet truck not lifting is the most common fault report on the floor, and four causes account for almost all of them. Knowing them stops an operator forcing a machine that should have been tagged out.
- The lever is in the wrong position. A truck set to "lower" will pump all day and lift nothing. Check this first; it is the answer more often than anyone admits.
- Overload. Above the rated capacity the relief valve does its job and the forks stop rising. That is the truck protecting itself, not failing.
- Low oil or air in the system. Forks rise partway and stall, or rise and then creep back down under load.
- Worn seals. Hydraulic creep — the load slowly sinks while parked — is a seal fault and it will get worse, not better.
Do not keep using a truck that creeps, lifts unevenly or drops when the lever is knocked. Tag it out and get it looked at. Our pallet truck maintenance and servicing guide covers repairs, service intervals and what a competent person should be checking — this guide stops at the operator's daily responsibility.
What UK law expects
Three sets of regulations do most of the work here:
- PUWER 1998 — equipment must be suitable for the task, maintained in efficient working order, and used only by people who have received adequate training and instruction.
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 — you must avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable, assess what cannot be avoided, and reduce the risk. Pushing and pulling a loaded pallet truck is a manual handling operation, and it belongs in your pallet truck risk assessment alongside the traffic and crushing risks.
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 — floors and traffic routes must be suitable, in good condition and free from obstruction. Most pallet truck problems trace back to a floor or a route, not to the truck.
There is no legal licence for a hand pallet truck in the way there is a recognised competence requirement for counterbalance forklifts — but "no licence" is not the same as "no training". PUWER requires adequate instruction, and an untrained operator who injures themselves is a straightforward failure to comply. The wider licence and hire question is covered in our manual vs electric pallet trucks guide.
Pallet truck training: what it should actually cover
Search results for pallet truck training are almost entirely training providers, which makes it hard to find out what the training is supposed to contain. We supply equipment and do not provide training — so here is the honest outline, and you can take it to whichever provider you use.
Training should be truck-specific and site-specific. A generic session that does not cover your gradients, your floor surfaces, your pallet types and your pedestrian routes has missed the risks that will actually bite. A competent course, whether delivered in-house by a qualified person or by an external provider, should cover:
- The controls and the lift mechanism on the actual truck the operator will use.
- Rated capacity, what an off-centre load does to it, and how to recognise an unsuitable pallet.
- Pre-use checks, and the reporting route when a truck fails one.
- Push-and-pull technique, gradients, corners, blind spots and shared pedestrian routes.
- Lowering, withdrawing and parking — the phase where most foot injuries happen.
- For powered trucks: braking, emergency reverse, battery charging and the charging area rules — see our lithium battery pallet trucks for the lower-maintenance option here.
- A practical assessment, not just a presentation.
Record it. Who was trained, on what truck, by whom, on what date, and what they were assessed on. Refresher training is not on a statutory clock for pallet trucks, but industry practice — following the pattern HSE guidance sets for lift trucks generally — is to refresh every three to five years, and sooner after an incident, a near miss, a change of equipment or a long absence from the task.
For powered pallet trucks, formal operator training through an accredited body such as RTITB or ITSSAR is the norm and is what most insurers and customers expect to see. Pedestrian pallet truck courses are typically short — often a half or full day for a novice — but confirm content and duration with the provider rather than assuming.
Does a pallet truck need a LOLER thorough examination?
This one comes up constantly and it deserves a straight answer rather than a confident wrong one.
LOLER 1998 applies to work equipment used for lifting or lowering loads, and requires lifting equipment to be thoroughly examined at set intervals by a competent person. A pallet truck does lift a load — just by around 100 mm, and only to move it. That is why interpretations differ: some duty holders treat pallet trucks as lifting equipment and put them on a 12-month thorough examination alongside their forklifts; others treat the lift as incidental to transport and manage the truck under PUWER inspection instead.
What is not in doubt: under PUWER the truck must be maintained in efficient working order and inspected at intervals your risk assessment justifies, with records kept. A high lift truck, a stacker or anything that raises a load to height is a much clearer LOLER case than a standard 100 mm pump truck.
The practical answer for most sites is to agree the position with your competent person or insurer, write it into your maintenance schedule, and stick to it — daily operator checks either way, plus a documented periodic inspection, typically annually for a manual truck in normal use and more often for high-utilisation or powered equipment.
Frequently asked questions
Should you push or pull a pallet truck?
Pull it on the level, so the truck trails behind you and your route ahead is clear. On a slope, always stay on the uphill side: push going up, and reverse going down, so the loaded truck never runs toward you.
How do you operate a hand pallet truck?
Set the lever to neutral, enter the pallet square on and all the way in, switch the lever to raise and pump the handle until the pallet just clears the floor, then pull the truck to where it is going. At the drop point, stand clear of the forks, set the lever to lower, bring the load down under control and withdraw straight out. Lower the forks fully before you park.
Do you need training to use a pallet truck in the UK?
There is no statutory licence for a manual pallet truck, but PUWER 1998 requires that anyone using work equipment has received adequate training and instruction. For powered pallet trucks, formal operator training through a body such as RTITB or ITSSAR is the norm and is strongly expected. In both cases, training should be truck-specific, site-specific and recorded.
Do you need a LOLER certificate for a pallet truck?
Interpretations differ. LOLER covers equipment used for lifting loads, and a pallet truck does lift — but only around 100 mm, and only to move the load. Some duty holders put pallet trucks on a 12-month thorough examination; others manage them under PUWER inspection instead. What is not optional either way is daily operator checks, maintenance in efficient working order and a documented periodic inspection. Agree the position with your competent person or insurer.
What are the common problems with pallet trucks?
Seized or wrapped load rollers, bent forks from ramming pallets, hydraulic creep from worn seals, and a pump that raises the forks but will not hold. Almost all of these are progressive faults that a daily walk-round catches long before they cause an incident.
Why won't my pallet truck lift?
Check the control lever is set to raise rather than lower — that is the most common cause. After that: the load is over the truck's rated capacity and the relief valve is doing its job; the oil is low or there is air in the system; or the seals are worn. A truck that lifts partway and then sinks should be tagged out, not persevered with.
How should you not use a hand pallet truck?
Don't overload it, don't part-enter the pallet, don't ride on it, don't use it on gradients or rough ground it was not designed for, don't leave forks raised when parked, and don't keep using one with a known hydraulic or wheel fault. Don't use it to tow, and don't use it to lift a load to working height — that is a job for a high lift truck or a pallet stacker.
How often should a pallet truck be inspected?
Daily pre-use checks by the operator, plus a periodic documented inspection at an interval set by your own risk assessment and the manufacturer's instructions — typically annually for a manual truck in normal use, and more often for high-utilisation or powered equipment.
Choosing the right truck in the first place
A lot of unsafe pallet truck use is really the wrong truck for the job. If operators are struggling with distance or load, that is a case for a powered machine — our manual vs electric pallet trucks guide and the electric pallet trucks buying guide work through the decision and the costs. If they are bending over pallets all day, a high lift truck fixes the ergonomics, and the pallet stacker vs pallet truck comparison covers where a stacker takes over. If they are walking loads to a scale, a weigh scale pallet truck removes the journey entirely. If the route includes a ramp or a yard, look at rough terrain trucks rather than asking a standard truck to cope.
Browse the full pallet trucks range, or the manual and powered sub-ranges. If you are moving loads by hand that should not be moved by hand at all, our manual handling equipment guide looks at designing the lift out of the job.