Forklift News - Dave Hoover: Pre-shift safety inspections

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.

Almost every country requires inspections of powered industrial trucks before they are used. In the US, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OHSA) states that:
"Industrial trucks shall be examined before being placed in service, and shall not be placed in service if the examination shows any condition adversely affecting the safety of the vehicle. Such examination shall be made at least daily. Where industrial trucks are used on a round-the-clock basis, they shall be examined after each shift. Defects, when found, shall be immediately reported and corrected."

It is one thing to require it to be done and another to ensure it really happens. In the US, an insepction does not have to be done in writing, it just has to be done. A letter of interpretation from OSHA on May 9, 2000, stated: "Although the standard requires that the examination be conducted, there is no OSHA requirement that the examination be recorded in writing on a checklist such as the one you provided."

Most companies, but not all, attempt to comply with inspection requirements but here are some problems I see in the field:

No list to follow or inadequate lists that are missing items or contain items that do not apply to particular forklifts.
Lack of time allotted to complete inspections. Operators and companies are frequently in a hurry, which means inspections may last seconds, if at all.
Lack of training on how to properly inspect. Are operators trained to inspect their current makes and models? I have had supposedly well-trained people unable to raise the hood or find the oil dipstick, which tells me they are not doing inspections.
Improper systems in place to deal with problems identified. Sometimes everything is done right, up till the point where paperwork, including issues that need attention, is forwarded for action. If the ball is dropped here, a black hole is created and things never get fixed, even though reams of paper describe various problems incurred over time, which can be very damaging with OSHA or in a court case.

How can you fix the problems?

Create reasonable checklists for each type of forklift in your facility, using a variety of resources, including operators’ manuals, regulatory guidelines, and corporate materials. Avoid listing items that don’t apply or that you don’t expect operators to inspect because a vendor or in-house maintenance team will handle them.
Allow time for operators to complete inspections and give them an approximate time frame a correct inspection should take. Let them know that 30 second or 30 minute checks are not appropriate time frames.
Ensure your training includes detail on what to inspect, how to inspect and what to do if there are problems.
Be sure you have set the correct expectations. We expect operators to inspect our forklifts, we expect our system of identifying problems and dealing with them to be followed by employees and management and we expect unsafe forklifts to be taken out of service until properly repaired.

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