EdwardT-- I have never heard of or witnessed any fatality under those conditions. I have seen at least 2 dozen injury accidents, (amputations of feet, hands, legs below the knee, fingers etc.) and 4 fatalities. And believe it or not, all were attributed to operator error or unsafe driving.

Thank you John. The answer is no, you should not jump.

Counterbalance trucks rollover in a predictable manner - that is sideways.
Stand up style strucks can fall sideways, backwards or piroquet in an unpredictable manner if in motion. There is therefore no guarantee that in stepping out you'll not be in the "line of fire." For that reason operators should be trained to brace themselves and hold on within the protected area as a normal response

I SAY 'JUMP OUT' on a stand up reach.

I would like to know if any of you have ever heard of anyone (with their operator restraint system properly engaged, and thus remaining inside the operator compartment) die as a result of an accident?

No. The safest spot to be in during a tip-over or accident on any type of equipment is within the operator compartment. At the most you might get banged up or mabye squish your hand on the outside wall. The cab protects 3/4 of your profile, as opposed to no protection once you step out.

OK lads,
we are all agreed that on counterbalance the oerator should hold on and bract themselves but on the Reach
most of you have said the operator should step out, but there are different opinions out there.
i think its time we had a vote?
Q. ON NARROW AISLE REACH STAND UP FORKLIFTS.
THE OPERATOR SHOULD STEP OFF THE MACHINE.
yes or no?

Pat

I don't think anyone disputes to stay in the seat w/lap belt fastened adn arm & leg brace but the original question is about stand-up reach type units. Most folks, & I for one ,do concur it is best for the operator to step out in the case of a si turn over.

I have seen a person step out of the op. compartment in a side turn over and survive. He was operating a 3 wheel type unit & had the presence of mind to step out and post his right leg on the ground and let the OHG fall over the top of him. This was the days before lap belts were required.

I would never advocate anyone try this. This person was a friend of mine & was very athiletic & the vechicle was a Weight-Mate (3 wheel engine powered, hdrostatic drive unit)

I agree with jacko, stay in the unit, brace your legs in the cab and grab the "INSIDE" cross pieces on the overhead gaurd. The most dangerous place during a tip-over on any unit is within a 20 foot radius outside the cab.

On the forklift the manufactor has decals explaining the procedures for role over, usually found on the overhead guard - brace yourself - lean away from direction of tilt- stay on the machine. You will still get injuries, back, neck but at lest you won't get crushed by the overhead guard.
The comments mentioned above are very true.

Some good information in all your replies guys.
Would just like to add the following based on all my research and my invovlement in legal cases.
There is obviously a strong belief/instinct that people have time to jump clear of a rolling over forklift or from a reach truck about to collide with something solid while travelling in reverse. Unfortunately that belief/instinct is not supported by the physics of the situation. I'm not aware of any counterbalance rollover where a driver successfully jumped clear. In one case a young male nearly jumped clear but the overhead guard hit his calves and flung him down onto the concrete so hard that he died of head injuries. And in one other case a very fit footballer nearly jumped clear but the overhead guard got his right ankle and caused severe crushing injury to the degree an amputaion was required.
And I know of five cases with small reach trucks where due to control/ loss of control issues drivers have attempted to jump clear before the reach truck hit a guard/ wall/ racking and ended up with foot of lower leg injuries because they were not able to get to the ground and dodge out of the way in time.
Hence a prudent employer should enforce seat belt wearing rigidly where they are fitted, and ensure where there are no seat bbelts drivers are thrained to brace themselves and hold themseloves within the protection of the forklift structure (arguably there should be sites with mocked up forklift structures which are tilted over and the driver practices holding on)

No doubt good professional from well experienced training professionals is vital to improving workplace safety or even on the highways. But the trainer is only as good as their students and vice versa.

As Ron White said in his part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour (Jeff Foxworthy, Cable Guy & Jim Macvill - sic)said "You can't fix stupid."
If you haven't heard it get or rent the DVD it is funny stuff. I think Ron White has his own DVD titled "You Can't Fix Stupid."

What I do, as a trainer, is put up several slides pertaining to this topic. First, I explain what the operator must do should the (sit-down) truck tipover. Emphasize the wearing of seatbelts regardless of how long or often they are on/off the truck.

Show that the forklift has a short wheelbase, narrow tracking width and a high center of gravity, and then compare that to a 'Vette, Porsche, Ferrari or whatever else that does have a long wheelbase, wide tracking width and a very low center of gravity, to the point where one is almost sitting on the ground, and compare handling characteristics.

And finally, show pics of tipovers with the operators either seriously hurt, or dead.

That should put the fear of GD into each one of them.

Likewise, for the stand-up reach. Tipping over, step off and back away.

If a professional, caring trainer shows them what can happen, then the odds of a truck tipping over due to speed and stupidity, will be drastically minimized.

Hi,
Roll over is never a good thing but operators should be trained for such an eventuality.
Trainers must emphasize strongly to the operator the responsibility involved in handling a HIGH RISK machine. Here in Queensland the government has stated that operators will incur heavy fines if they don't carry out their duties as they were trained. The problem with that is (in my opinion) there are not enough inspectors checking out workplaces.
UNTIL of course an accident happens and then all **** breaks loose.

Pat

Annother thing to consider when discussing forklift roll-overs (with sit down counter balanced machines) is that those who jump off are almost always killed or severly injured because human nature is to take the path of least resistance, which is the low side. I have only ever had to recover one rolled over machine in all my years in this buisness, and thank fully that operator stayed in the seat despite not having a seat belt.

This is a bit off topic, but I have seen a crown produced saftey video featuring a crash test dummy, RC3000, an un chokked flat bed trailer and an automatic dock leveler. It didn't end well for the dummy when the trailer rolled away.... I think that all forklift operators should be required to watch a bunch of safty videos of that type at least once a year, probably every one who works around theses machines should watch them periodicly