Greetings,

I am a safety professional and work in the pontoon boat manufacturing industry. We operate Heavy Lift Trucks, Hyundai 160D-9 (Lift Capacity of 35,000 lbs.) and Hyundai 110D-9 (Lift Capacity of 25,000 lbs.), primarily to do the following:

Lift the pontoon boats for transport to racking outside with third party modified fork extensions (This but with pontoon boats), maximum length of unit is 30' with motor mounted on the rear and a maximum weight of 8,000, boats with motors are typically lifted from the front with the motor-end facing away from the lift truck, maximum weight of the motor is ~1,450 lbs.

Transport pontoon boat frames from the framing department to storage racks in queue for the assembly line and from the frame storage racks to the main assembly plant (pontoon boat frame example), maximum length of frame is 26', maximum weight is 1,500 lbs.

Move single and double row 5th wheel shipping trailers with a kingpin clamp attachment and air brake line attachments (Loaded Trailer for Shipping Example)



One issue I am having: I have been trying to find equipment specific operator training for the Hyundai 160D-9/110D-9. I cannot find anything useful outside of the operators manual; no videos covering basic operation, no hands-on training sheets, no hands-on evaluation checklists, etc....



Therefore, my current approach to the operator certification is to issue candidates the equipment specific operator's manual, have them view our generic sit-down counterbalance forklift safety video, complete that video's associated quiz, then utilize the sit-down counterbalance hands-on training/evaluation form substituting pallets as the load for frames/completed boats.

I have attempted to contact the OEM, Equipment Dealerships, Safety Consultants, Dealership Training Departments, and even our Pontoon Boat Dealer partners to no avail...

If anyone has some feedback or if you operate similar Heavy Lift Trucks/equipment and you would be willing to share what your approach is I would greatly appreciate it!!!

Otherwise, I plan to tailor our hands-on training and evaluation checklist to the 5 or 6 specific scenarios/tasks our Heavy Lift Truck operators are most likely to perform; with the easiest scenario/task being first then progressing towards the most difficult task, breaking them down into critical steps/etc....



Second issue I am trying to address: Our operators are convinced the safest way to travel with a frame/completed boat on the extended forks is to elevate the unit to at or above the height of the lift truck mast and drive forward. They claim that driving in this fashion offers the highest field of view.

I have informed them of the operators' manual instructions specifically warning against traveling with a load excessively elevated and of the OSHA standards stating the same.

Our operators have been driving these style of Heavy Lift Trucks for years, and for multiple pontoon boat manufacturers specifically, they claim this is the only way they have ever operated.



I understand the primary risk of traveling with an elevated load in our situation to be:

Instability and potential tip-over,

Potential failure of lift mechanisms and the higher the load the harder the crash,

And the potential forces being fulcrummed on to the equipment with the weight of completed units elevated excessively

We do not have any overhead powerlines or other obstructions to worry about.



Traveling in reverse with a load presents another set of risks;

The exhaust stack is located directly center outside of the rear cab window and obstructs the FOV,

Operators are not accustomed to turning their body/rotating their necks to the rear and have to frequently turn from side to side to gain a similar FOV to traveling with the load elevated in forward,

Potential for lifted units to swing into other PITs, semi-trucks, people, buildings, or racks when maneuvering.



My current direction is all lift truck operators must drive in reverse when the load obstructs 50% or more of their forward FOV. The operators are trying to adhere to this, however, am getting the typical push-back with any change/new procedure.

I am open to considering the risk and writing a Safe Work Instruction that factors in the pros/cons of each scenario, however, I wanted to break this down and ask for the community's insight.

Best Regards,