I was at a big box store in my town a few days ago. A forklift came into the building with a load of treated 4x4s. For the entire trip both outside and inside through the customer area the load was fully elevated. The load was high enough that the operator's vision forward was not blocked. He could look underneath. The operator then stopped, lowered the forks, got off the forklift, left the engine running, and went somewhere else.
I brought this matter to the attention of the warehouse manager. "This is his first day" was the defense. When I told him that the load was elevated he asked if it was bring driven forward. "We want them to drive backwards so that if they have to stop quick the load will not fall. The elevated load was not a concern. This manager also did not know about the matter of an unattended fork lift.
There was no incident with an injury or fatality. There was an injury to the company image in the sight of a customer.
In the CFR, forklift (powered industrial truck) training is itemized. In case common sense is not available the CFR clearly states "Prior to permitting an employee to operate a powered industrial truck (except for training purposes),…."
I often tell clients not to wait for a forklift class to come to town but to take the CFR outline and do their own program. At google type in "1910.178(l)" In the parentheses that is a lower case L.
With thanks to Brigadier General Anthony G Crutchfield of the Joint Center for Operational Analysis, Joint Forces Command in Suffolk Virginia there are five common words in safety investigators' write-ups. These five words are:
- Untrained
- Unsupervised
- Undisciplined
- Overconfident
- Complacent
Often all five words apply. Such is the case in the example above.
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