I'm always fascinated when people talk about the concerning number of forklift-related deaths. Considering the millions of forklifts in action - some of them 24/7 - I believe this is one of the safest industries around. The latest Forkliftaction special report notes that in 2021, forklift accidents caused 70 work-related deaths across the US. To put this into perspective, there were 5,190 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2021.
Forklift deaths pale into insignificance compared to the 1,103 road-related industrial deaths that year.
Even more surprising - 850 workers died in accidents categorised as "fall, slip, trip". In other words, you're 11 times more likely to lose your life walking around the workplace than driving a forklift.
And that old favourite death benchmark: 11 people died in the US that year after being struck by lightening!!