Forklift News - David Hoover: Sometimes the little things count

I was at a customer location and found forks in use on one forklift were worn around 30 per cent to 40 per cent. I mentioned it to the trainers I was training, and to the dealer servicing the account. The dealer had mentioned the worn out forks to the customer, although no action was taken to follow through and get them out of service. Most likely nothing will happen but there was the potential for something bad to occur. The customer thought the quality of the forks might be an issue but, in reality, the dealer never adjusted the chains over the years and that led to the fork heels grinding down to dangerous levels, well beyond the 10 per cent "no go" wear level.

At another customer location, I found a large, sit-down forklift carrying a paper roll clamp. The data plate reflected no attachment and still listed the full capacity of 5,000 pounds. The dealer forgot to change the plate when adding the attachment and the customer did not notice the error for years. Maybe nobody gets hurt but then again. What if a new operator tried to handle too much weight and flipped the forklift, hurting him or herself? Is the operator the only person responsible or do the dealer and end user have responsibility? More than likely, the end user will get an OSHA citation and both the end user and the dealer may have legal liability.

Sometimes we overlook the little things, thinking that if we cover the big, scary hazards the others are only minor. Even minor issues can turn into large hazards when neglected for years or even decades. If you are a dealer, how orientated to finding customer problems are your technicians? Are they trained to look at everything, down to details like fork wear and data plates and, more importantly, do they really look? You won’t have to go any further than a few larger customer locations to find the answer. If you are an end user, how well educated are you about the safety and maintenance of your forklifts? If you do lift work in-house you had better train your folks well in safety item identification. If you leave it up to a dealer, you’d better be sure to pick a good one with attention to details, even the little ones. Changing the oil, kicking the tyres and then back into service just won’t cut it in these days of 24-hour court TV, safety has to come first.

David Hoover is president of Forklift Training Systems Inc, a US safety company specialising in site and forklift safety training, training trainers, custom program development and cutting-edge forklift safety products. Contact David Hoover.

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