Geography / US / Source: SafetySmart Compliance
Spot the OSHA Violation: This How You Want Your Workers to Drive a Forklift?
What’s wrong with this picture?
______
Answer
The worker operating this forklift is literally driving blind. The load he’s carrying is blocking his frontal vision forcing him to look around it to see where he’s going.
The Moral:In addition to being dangerous, letting workers drive like the one in the photo violates your OSHA obligation (Sec. 1910.178(l)(1)(i)) to ensure that each operator of a powered industrial truck successfully completes training making him “competent” to operate the device safely. And while we don’t know the whole story behind this picture, unsafe forklift driving is almost always the result of inadequate training.
FORKLIFT OPERATION: 3 Reasons to Pay Attention
- Roughly 100 U.S. workers die in forklift accidents each year
- Roughly 36,340 workers suffer serious injuries as a result of such accidents over that same one year
- At least 20% to 25% of these accidents occur because the forklift operator wasn’t adequately trained
11 THINGS YOU NEED TO BE TRAINED ON TO OPERATE A FORKLIFT
According to OSHA, you may not operate a forklift—or, as it’s technically referred to “powered industrial truck” (PIT)—unless and until you get training on these 11 topics:
1. Operating instructions, warnings and precautions relating to the particular type of PIT you’re allowed to operate
2.Differences between the PIT and a car
3. Where the PIT’s controls and instruments are located, what they do and how they work
4. How the PIT’s engine/motor operates
5. How to steer and maneuver the PIT
6. Visibility, i.e., the importance of being able to see where you drive both forward and reverse and with and without a load (a lesson that obviously failed to sink in with the worker in the above photo)
7. Fork and attachment adaptation, operation and use limits
8. The PIT’s capacity, i.e., what it can/can’t do and safely carry
8. The PIT’s stability, i.e., how it can flip over and ensure that it doesn’t
9. Any inspection or maintenance on the vehicle that you’re expected to perform
10. Refueling and/or charging and recharging batteries safely
11. Operating limitations, e.g., how fast the PIT can go, what kinds of surfaces you can and can’t use it on, etc.
8 FORKLIFT DRIVING DO’s & DON’Ts
There are 8 things to do/not do when operating a forklift
DO turn off the engine before refueling the forklift
DON’T ever operate a forklift if you don’t have the proper training—EVER
DO look in the direction you’re travelling at all times
DON’T carry others as passengers or use the forklift to lift a pallet while somebody’s standing on it
DO conduct a visual inspection of the forklift at the start of your shift before you use it
DON’T try to move loads that weigh more than the forklift’s safe lifting capacity
DO place forks under the load as far as possible
DON’T park a forklift on an incline unless the wheels are safely blocked
FOR MORE HELP
Go to the SafetySmart Compliance Powered Industrial Trucks Compliance Center to prevent forklift accidents and OSHA citations:
- How to comply with powered industrial truck training requirements
- How to comply with powered industrial trucks maintenance requirements
- How to comply with powered industrial truck travel requirements
- How to comply with powered industrial truck operating requirements
This tool and hundreds more available in the SafetySmart Compliance Toolbox at