July/August 1999
Want to learn how to improve forklift safety in your operations and achieve compliance with new OSHA training requirements?Read on for some expert advice.
By Lynn R. Novelli
Lynn R. Novelli is a writer based in Russell, Ohio
The forklift is perhaps the most universal piece of equipment in scrap processing operations. For moving material, loading and unloading trailers, and shifting inventory quickly and efficiently, the forklift—or sit-down counterbalanced lift truck, as it’s called—is a must.
As with all industrial equipment, forklifts are safe machines when properly operated and maintained. Manufacturers that produce forklifts for the U.S. market must ensure that their products comply with the ANSI B56.1 standards—the American National Standards Institute guidelines for powered lift-truck design and construction. Manufacturers also spend millions annually on safety testing, research, and development to make forklifts safer. (For a list of forklift manufacturers, see “A Forklift Shortlist” on page 57.)
Still, last year alone, power lift-truck accidents caused more than 100 deaths, 33,000 serious injuries, and 61,000 cuts, bruises, abrasions, and other minor injuries. According to OSHA, one-third of the 1.5 million forklift operators in the United States will be involved in an accident in their career.
Beyond the cost in human suffering, forklift accidents also carry a high monetary price. In 1998, damage to product, equipment, racking, and warehouse structures from forklift accidents cost employers $42 million. Add in workers’ compensation, medical care, and hidden costs such as employee replacement and liability, and the total costs of forklift accidents are staggering.
There are steps you can take, however, to improve forklift safety and minimize the risk of forklift accidents in your operations.
A Safe Foundation
A pre-shift inspection and solid maintenance program are the foundations of every good forklift safety program. The two are closely related. “A properly maintained vehicle is a safe vehicle,” says Diane Cashen, product safety manager for Clark Material Handling Co. “And an inspection, documented with a checklist at the start of every shift, is the best way to make sure that the truck is being serviced regularly and properly.”
Not only do manufacturers recommend a pre-shift inspection, but OSHA requires it under its new 1910.178(1) forklift training requirements (for a copy of the rule, visit www.osha-slc.gov/FedReg_osha_data/FED19981201.html).
Even so, statistics show that only about half of companies conduct this inspection, Cashen says. “It turns out to be hit and miss because of the time it takes.”
But skipping the pre-shift inspection will cost you in the long run in added maintenance costs. Following such an inspection checklist “can be invaluable for tracking problems and making sure they get fixed,” she says.
In a rough environment like a scrap processing facility, Cashen recommends giving extra attention during the pre-shift inspection to steering, brakes, axle stops (the blocks that prevent the wheels from riding up into the truck body on uneven terrain), and tire pressure and condition.
“Driving over material can really chew up tires, whether they’re pneumatic, foam-filled, or solid pneumatic,” notes Wayne Wilde, director of training and technical publications for Nissan Forklift Corp., North America. “Worn or improperly inflated tires can cause serious accidents, so it’s important for tires to be inspected daily and replaced as needed.”
Besides fixing problems as they come up, you should be following the preventive maintenance schedule recommended by the forklift manufacturer. This schedule may require considerable up-front costs for labor, materials, and downtime, but keeping up with preventive maintenance will improve safety and extend the life of your forklifts.
Planned maintenance is also an OSHA requirement. “With a good maintenance program, a lift truck can have a useful life of 15 to 20 years,” says Frank Clason, technical services manager for Daewoo Heavy Industries America Corp. “A well-maintained, properly used older truck is a safe piece of equipment, if you keep up with all safety-related retrofits from the manufacturer.”
Don’t try to save money by using “will-fit” parts to repair your equipment, Wilde advises. Such repairs might be cheaper up front, but they could cost you a bundle if the part fails. As he explains, forklift manufacturers will go to great lengths to prove they aren’t liable for damages in such cases.
Keys to Safe Operation
Most forklift accidents are caused by one of four scenarios, says Clason:
- Turning too sharply;
- Traveling with an elevated load;
- Traveling too fast for conditions: Excessive speed is a culprit in all kinds of accidents, from tip-overs to hitting pedestrians to falling off loading docks. It’s up to the company safety officer to set policies on speed and up to the supervisor to enforce them, says Wilde. “In general, in a rougher or more crowded environment like a scrap plant, your operators should travel at a lower rate of speed and should always slow down to turn,” he says; and
- Traveling with vision obscured: A surprising number of forklift accidents occur because the operator can’t see where he’s going and hits a pedestrian or object. The operator should always have a clear view in the direction of travel, even if the vehicle is equipped with mirrors. Your drivers should understand that if their load restricts forward visibility, they should operate the truck in reverse, say forklift experts.
Another general rule for safe forklift operation is to require operators to always where a seatbelt. When operators get hurt, it’s usually because they failed to wear a seatbelt, says Mike Mattia, ISRI’s director of risk management. “I see so many reports of accidents that occur at a height, like a loading dock, with the operator not belted in. The truck falls, he bails out and gets crushed. Getting belted in could save the operator’s life.”
Some manufacturers made operator restraints standard equipment on their products in 1983. Ten years later, OSHA made them mandatory on all sit-down powered lift trucks.
Newer models also feature lateral restraints, or wings, which prevent the operator’s upper body from hitting the ground if the forklift tips over. Retrofit kits are available to add them to older machines.
When it comes to specific operational dangers, tip-overs are the most dramatic type of lift truck accident and the most likely to result in serious injury or death. Though the operator’s instinct may be to bail out during a tip-over, that’s the worst thing to do, says Cashen. “Most fatalities in tip-overs occur when the operator tries to jump free of the truck,” she says. “There’s not time to jump clear of the overhead guard, so the operator usually gets trapped and crushed.” For the best chance of survival in a tip-over, operators should:
- stay in the protective operator cell created by the seatbelt, side restraints, and overhead shield;
- lean away from the fall; and
- ride the truck down.
Protecting Coworkers
Contrary to what you might think, the most common outcome from forklift operator errors is a pedestrian accident—that is, coworkers being struck by the forklift, injured by a falling load, or pinned between the forklift and a wall or other piece of equipment. As Mattia observes, the person most vulnerable to forklift injury “isn’t the one driving the truck. It’s often the coworker who steps out in front of the truck who gets injured or killed.”
In a perfect workplace, pedestrian traffic would be entirely separate from areas where forklifts are in use. Of course, that isn’t possible in many operations, including scrap processing facilities. In such circumstances, all employees who will be in areas of forklift operation should be trained in lift-truck safety so they know how to stay clear of trouble.
This safety training should emphasize two key points:
- If your forklifts are equipped with warning lights, make sure other employees are familiar with them and know how to respond. Forklift operators should be trained to use horns only as warning devices, not for greeting their friends; and
- Be on the lookout for situations in which forklifts are operating close to other employees. These high-risk situations must be reevaluated so that employees in potentially dangerous areas can be moved to safer locations.
Impress on your operators and other employees that forklifts can be dangerous vehicles, says Mattia. “We see too many horrible accidents caused by someone trying to hitch a ride on a forklift or use a forklift to raise them up, and they get caught in the mechanism and lose a limb or get the flesh stripped off.”
Make sure coworkers understand the dangers of such shortcuts, he says. “That’s what it comes down to a lot of the time—a guy trying to cut corners or take a shortcut. When you can give some real-life examples of the horrible things that can happen, training can be very valuable in reducing such incidents.”
Smart Load Handling
Forklift safety experts are passionate about load handling because it’s so critical to the machine’s stability. “Anyone who is going to operate a lift truck should understand the principles of load safety and stability before they’re even allowed on the equipment,” asserts Cashen.
Proper instruction on how to properly load the forklift and move with a load will help operators reduce the risk of tipping over, dropping a load, injuring pedestrians, and damaging materials.
Safety trainers recommend starting in the classroom with a discussion of capacity, load center, and center of gravity, then moving on to practice on a training course.
Wilde emphasizes four principles for load handling:
Stay Within Capacity. To maintain stability, the load has to be within the truck’s rated capacity. “You can safely lift a load up to the rated capacity to the maximum height specified in the operator’s manual,” he says. “If you have to go over that height, you need to know how that will affect the center of gravity”;
Understand Center of Gravity and What Affects It. The so-called stability triangle of a forklift is created by the three-point suspension system. The apex of the triangle is the center of the steer axle, where it is mounted on the frame of the machine at the rear. The other two points of the triangle are the centers of the front drive tires.
The center of gravity of an unloaded truck is inside this triangle, equidistant from the front tires and a little more than halfway back from the rear steer axle. The center of gravity shifts as weight is added and operations are performed. If the center of gravity moves outside the triangle, the forklift will tip over.
For the greatest side-to-side and front-to-back stability, the operator should keep the center of gravity in the middle of the triangle of a loaded truck. “When traveling with a loaded truck, tilt the load to shift the weight and the center of gravity back toward yourself,” Wilde recommends;
Observe Load Center. This is the center of the weight of the load on the forks, usually 24 inches from the backrest of the fork and off the face of the forks. “As long as you maintain load center, the truck is stable and the center of gravity will be almost over the front wheels, at the driver,” Wilde explains.
Operators need to understand how changing the load center affects the center of gravity and how to compensate for it. “As the forklift is loaded farther out and higher up than the rated load center, the load center and the center of gravity are changing,” he notes; and
Control Speed. When driving a loaded truck, the operator needs to drive at a speed that allows him to maintain control of the truck and the product.
Engine and Battery Basics
Most forklifts used in the scrap industry are equipped with liquid propane gas (LPG)-powered internal combustion engines. Because this fuel and the high-acid-content batteries in lift trucks require special handling procedures, equipment, and protective clothing, most companies rely on specially trained maintenance professionals for servicing lift-truck engines.
For maximum safety in refilling LPG tanks, Wilde recommends working with your local fire department to ensure all safety regulations are observed. You must also follow Environmental Protection Agency regulations for vapor control.
Many operations have maintenance personnel refill LPG cylinders and forklift operators change the cylinders on the forklift itself. This arrangement is fine as long as operators follow these basic rules when changing LPG tanks:
- Wear vinyl-coated gloves when handling the cylinder;
- Change tanks only in a well-ventilated area; and
- Don’t smoke, run engines, or start engines in the changing area.
Minimizing Loading Dock Risks
Undeniably, loading docks are high-risk areas where a lot of action takes place in a relatively small space, and visibility is often limited. This combination creates a safety challenge for forklift operators.
To help reduce the risks, keep the number of people on the loading dock to a minimum. Ideally, pedestrians shouldn’t be allowed in the area. Since that isn’t always possible, create designated pedestrian areas that are protected by guardrails and limit foot traffic to essential loading dock personnel.
Dock plates create another potential hazard. Moveable dock plates resting on moveable trailers mean that forklift operators risk falling between the dock and the trailer while loading or unloading. “Even driving over the hump where the plate meets the trailer can unbalance the forklift enough to be dangerous,” Wilde points out.
To make your loading dock safer for forklift operations, try these tips from Clark:
- Make sure trailers are restrained and adequately chocked to prevent any movement during forklift loading and unloading;
- Have a system of signals with trailer drivers to prevent them from pulling away while a forklift is loading or unloading;
- Train your forklift operators in dock safety regulations and make sure they follow them, especially when it comes to controlling speed and maintaining a clear line of vision; and
- Hold your dock supervisor responsible for ensuring that incoming trailers observe your company’s safety regulations and signals.
Training for Safety
While you might assume that the most inexperienced forklift operators have the most accidents, “statistics show that accidents happen with both young, inexperienced operators and older, very experienced operators,” says Cashen. “On the front end, it’s lack of experience and judgment, and on the back end it’s a lax attitude toward safety.”
Proper and thorough training is the best way to help forklift operators reduce their risks, Clason states. “The single biggest mistake operators make is to assume that a lift truck operates like their automobile,” he says. “Operators need to be trained to drive a forklift just as they’re trained to drive a car.” And they need to understand the basic operational differences between forklifts and cars, including issues such as visibility, speed, stopping distance, tail swing, and turning radius.
In 1988, the Industrial Truck Association (Washington, D.C.) recommended that OSHA incorporate training requirements into its standard for powered industrial trucks. Last year, OSHA published its long-awaited, revamped 1910.178(1), which spells out training requirements.
OSHA now requires that anyone who operates a forklift, however infrequently, must be trained and must receive refresher training every three years, or whenever a near-miss occurs.
Previously, many companies took an on-the-job approach to forklift operator training, letting experienced operators instruct new employees, then allowing them to refine their skills by doing. That approach won’t cut it under the new OSHA standard, says Wilde. “OSHA now requires that training be more formal and include classroom lectures, practice, and a written test. OSHA spells out exactly the topics that have to be covered.” He estimates that most companies will need a four-to-eight-hour forklift training program.
OSHA believes that its new forklift training standard will prevent 17 to 22 deaths, 11,000 to 14,000 serious injuries, and more than 15,000 minor injuries each year and save more than $8 million in property damage. In addition, there will be corresponding savings in workers’ compensation, medical expenses, liability, and lost time, OSHA says.
Such cost-savings—not to mention fear of an OSHA fine for noncompliance—should be enough to motivate companies to comply, Wilde says. “When you consider insurance, workers’ compensation, and liability, every employer should have a financial interest in training its employees,” he asserts. “And once an employer has gone through the training process, it should be ready to bend over backward to retain those employees.”
A Forklift Shortlist
In the market for a forklift? Have a question about forklift safety? Need a technical question answered? These nine forklift manufacturers can help.
Case Corp. (Racine, Wis.), 414/636-6705 (www.casecorp.com)
Caterpillar Lift Trucks (Houston), 800/228-5438 (www.cat-lift.com)
Clark Material Handling Co. (Lexington, Ky.), 800/755-1922 or 606/288-1200 (www. clarkmhc.com)
Daewoo Heavy Industries America Corp. (Warrensville Heights, Ohio), 216/595-5623 (www.daewoomc.com)
John Deere Construction Equipment Co. (Moline, Ill.), 800/503-3373 (www.deere.com)
Linde AG (Wiesbaden, Germany), 49/611-770-284 (www.linde.de)
Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks (Houston), 888/648-5438 (www.mit-lift.com)
Nissan Forklift Corp., North America (Marengo, Ill.), 815/568-0061 (www.nissanforklift.com)
Toyota Industrial Equipment (Torrance, Calif.), 800/226-0009 (www.toyotaforklift.com) •
Want to learn how to improve forklift safety in your operations and achieve compliance with new OSHA training requirements?Read on for some expert advice.