See, that is so predictible and I knew that it come out when I joined this discussion.
Actually C and R are my middle and last name initials; and you are totally wrong,
I am not a salesman. I worked in the field and with service in general in this industry since 1993 and in two continents. I bet I have more certifications on hands on training and degrees in applied technologies that you can even guess.
The thing is that I had the opportunity to see with my own eyes what this thing is capable of accomplishing, and I was impressed, what's wrong with that?
I am not bragging, I couldn't care less.... I am only inspired by good technology and engineering.
So you can say whatever you want, I really don't care....

Gee, does the "CR" stand for anything? I wonder. Oh wait, I get it, your not a tech, your a salesman.

Dear Maven,

I just got the facts. Things that unfortunately you don't have....yet.
We will talk again in October and then we will see if it was bias or facts.

Good day

Yawn... Thanks for the "ahem" unbiased veiw... NEXT!

Game changers in this industry are rare.
This new Crown will be......

To the skepticals: be ready for the LP revolution! You have no idea what this beauty is all about......
Just wait and you'll see.
And guys, please do not talk about needing a laptop to change the oil, that is bull.

Clark had the BEST safety videos back in the late 60's and early seventies. Crazy straight up stunt drivers on C-40's flipping them on ramps and riding them off waterfront docks!!! Straddling ballard poles and t-boneing other operators.

hahahah Klaus is awsome!! i agree though, if people throw a fit about this being unsafe, just go to youtube and type forklft....watch all the crazy things on there people do.

I have to agree with Danny Maron*, and surely never intended to raise such a lengthy discussion, heck for all I could tell, it could well be all "photoshoped" and not even taken of a person in the same room as the truck.

Haven't we all seen "Klaus the forklift driver", and I didn't ever see one complaint about the lack of PPE when using the chain saw.

I just want to see if the new crown IC forklift will be included in the next "Transformers" movie.
;-)

*=except it is NOT "OK" to ogle at scantily clad female models "spread out on the hood of one's car", that is sexist and objectifies women as **** objects, not as real people, so all those pictures, you MUST send to me right away.

And another..

As to the "non-OSHA-compliant" aspect of the ESPN The Magazine photo, do professional sports fall within the jurisdiction of OSHA and, more to the point, where do professional athletes fall within said jurisdiction? Surely the groundskeepers, custodial staff, security personnel, concession worker and all the others are "workers" in the standard sense of the word, but the athletes? I suppose they should be, but I don't really know.
Does the photo give Crown a bad name? Not a chance. As people say, no publicity is bad publicity and being seen on the front cover of a sports magazine touting America's #1 spectator sport is pure gold as far as publicity goes. Furthermore, the only people that will identify this cover as being "non-OSHA" will represent such a tiny sliver of the of the total readership that even if every one of them screamed about it at the top of their lungs, no one would even hear much less give it any attention.
Does it open forklift operator training to criticism? Not in my opinion but I suppose it could to some. However, the OSHA mandated forklift operator training standard is designed for actual operators working on industrial worksites. In my opinion, this cover does not have any more effect on forklift training than Hollywood car chases do on automobile driver training. The "stunt" pulled by ESPN on this cover was presumably executed by professionals under controlled circumstances with all due considerations for safety taken. If it was not, then shame on ESPN.

Rob Vetter
Director of Training
IVES Training & Compliance Group Inc

Regarding the Crown forklift on the ESPN The Magazine cover, there are two sides to every coin, so let us start with the first. As a professional trainer, I do not condone the use of powered industrial lift trucks to elevate individuals without the use of a safety cage (of certain minimum specifications) dually supported to the forklift. An individual must be wearing the proper PPE, which includes an approved belt or harness, and a tether (lanyard) not exceeding 5 feet (1.5 m). Therefore, the message to professional trainers, experienced competent operators, current trainees and the up-and-coming operators is wrong.
On the other side of the coin, this is merely a photo-op. I suppose Mr. Peterson is such a heavyweight that he requires a forklift to elevate and support him up in the air. This picture demonstrates the creativity of the magazine, the photographer, and all involved, except for the non-present OSHA representative. The forklift is merely a prop and, without reading the article, possibly ingenious.
This is a sports magazine, not a forklift, materials handling or warehousing magazine. The masses would not know the safety issues if they were standing underneath the forks, and the forks dropped and hit them on their heads. Many doctors, accountants and office managers know nothing about forklifts, or forklift safety, and they're obvious thoughts would probably be 'cool'. Nice looking truck! That is why forklift operators always look out for pedestrians because pedestrians are ignorant when it comes to forklifts.
Which brings me to this question: we have seen scantily clad models laying out on the hoods of exotic or customized vehicles, and ogled and stared at what we are looking at. That is okay because they beautiful models, however, the legality of a model spread out on the hood of one's car would also be considered illegal while driving on the streets.
Okay, so you say that the car is not actually moving, so there is no harm. Well, I do not believe that Adrian is actually working either. We all see movie posters of people killing others, reckless car driving, drug dealing and so forth. I guess the police would have some negative comments regarding what we see in film and magazine covers as well. But that is life. And sometimes, magazine covers do not always depict life as it should be.
Is it OSHA compliant? No, it isn't. Do I agree with what I see? No, I don't.
Is it a harmless photo shoot under controlled conditions just to get a point across? Yes it is. Do the masses, which this publication is geared for really care? No, they don't. It's done and over with. Do I care as a professional lift truck trainer as to what I see? Flip me a coin, and I will gladly tell you!

Danny Maron
owner and trainer
Ideal Forklift Training

Here are some responses from forkliftaction.com's Safety First columnists:

Regarding the football-fantasy photograph, no trainer or safety person would ever endorse this type of action, but it happens thousands of times every day in the US with real workers, not actors or football players, involved in a photo shoot.
A person in the material handling industry may say "wow look at the Crown lifting that guy," but outside those circles it is just a forklift to most people. I think there is zero damage to Crown as we all know they would never approve of that type of thing even in a photo shoot if they knew about it.
Most non-forklift folks are uninformed, and many operators are trained so poorly that they might not even know what is wrong, which is a real tragedy in many ways.
I think spending too much time on something minor like this distracts away from the real issues that kill forklift operators and pedestrians every day around the world. How about a cover on the fact that in the US more people are killed by forklifts than by tornados or by poisonous snakes each year? Now that is a story worth printing and a problem worth fixing.
David Hoover
President
Forklift Training Systems

Impressive in a sense that of out of all gas trucks I have ever seen, this one is by far going to be the easiest to work on. Of course, this is merely my opinion. When the product launches beyond test areas, I'm sure you all will form yours.

And just to eliminate speculation (if there is any), ESPN came to Crown for the cover shot not the other way around. From what I hear, more than just Crown was contacted to pose their products for the same shot.

if your still a non - believer...check out the headline story on mmh.com

It is on the newstand. If you are an ESPN INsider you can see the behind the scene access to the photoshoot. It was the photographer's desing to have A.P. standing on the forks. I don't condone anyone standing on forks and crown released a statement to the same effect. I can tell you that this truck will be huge for Crown. It has crown access points and the JD Motor. I have seen this truck up close. The only thing I have seen that I don't like about the truck, is how loud it is to an operator. Some complained of the noise, but overall a good truck.

hahahah...yes it is on newsstands.... notice how the link was to the espn site anyways...i could under stand if it was on a free hosting site or something, but come on...... Yes I have seen the magazine in stores