Attachment Use Authorisation

This authorisation covers one thing: whether a specific attachment may be used on a specific truck by a specific operator. It is not a general equipment licence and it is not an ongoing behavioural check.

Nothing prescribes an 'attachment authorisation' by name. The obligation is assembled from a manufacturer-approval requirement for modifications and a competence requirement for the specific task, and the record exists to evidence both together.

The core obligation — no unapproved modification, and demonstrated competence for the actual configuration in use — is consistent across regimes. What differs is how explicitly the attachment scenario is named.

The form prompts for a yes or no against compatibility, competence and control. What decides whether the authorisation is defensible is the reasoning behind those answers.

Attachment authorisations tend to exist on paper. The findings concern whether the compatibility arithmetic behind them was actually done, and whether the truck reflects it.

A recycling site fitted a bale-clamp rotator to a reach truck to speed up baled-material handling. Engineering calculated the derated capacity correctly, approved the manufacturer compatibility, and trained two operators on the combination. The paperwork was complete and signed. The physical plate on the truck, however, still read the original unattached rating, because the fitter who installed the rotator was not the person responsible for ordering a replacement plate, and nobody's role explicitly covered it.

Four months later a third operator, not one of the two authorised, used the truck with the rotator during a shift-cover gap, working to the plate rather than a training record he had never seen, and tipped a load exceeding the true derated capacity by a wide margin. The authorisation had correctly identified the risk and calculated the number; it simply had no mechanism forcing the truck to agree with the paper record, and no control preventing an unauthorised operator from using it meanwhile.

The authorisation itself is a snapshot. What actually fails is the truck drifting out of step with it: the plate that never got changed, the attachment that moved to another machine, the operator who covered a shift without the record being checked.

KnowFleet

Holds the attachment authorisation against the asset register and the truck it names, and flags when an attachment appears on a truck the record does not cover.

KnowTrain

Links the authorisation to the specific familiarisation and practical assessment it depends on, so a competence gap shows up before the truck is used, not after.

Ella

Watches for attachments moved between trucks or manufacturer bulletins affecting an approved combination, and raises the reassessment rather than waiting for the stated date.

Rated capacity

The maximum load a truck may lift, as tested and certified for a specific configuration, load centre and mast height.

Derated capacity

The reduced capacity that applies once an attachment is fitted, calculated from the attachment's own weight and how far it moves the load centre.

Load centre

The horizontal distance from the face of the forks to the centre of gravity of the load; attachments typically increase it, which reduces safe capacity.

Capacity plate

The data plate fixed to the truck stating rated or derated capacity for the configuration currently fitted; it must match the equipment as it actually stands.

Familiarisation

Supervised, hands-on operation of the specific attachment on the specific truck, distinct from classroom or general equipment training.