Please tell me you are going to enroll your "bosses " in a forklift training course.

The rated capacity of a forklift is a combination of the maximum load (weight) a lift truck is rated to cary at a designated load center (typicaly 24 inches, meaning the load should be no taller than four feet) to a specified higth (how high the top of the forks will be off the floor). Without getting into mathmatical formulas and engineering approvals from the manufacturer a basic rule of thumb is to deduct 100 pounds from the weight capacity for every 1 inch you exceed the rated load center.

There are many safety concerns with operating a lift truck that has a load protruding above the mast. Is your lift truck going to tip over? Are you going to strike a doorway with the load? Are you going to strike any other object man has placed in your warehouse (lights, fans, sprinklers, furnaces, propane pipes etc.)?

The Australian work cover authority produces a booklet regaurding forklift stability. Follow the links posted in this news letter, they sent one to me in Canada, so I am sure they will send you one. It has many basic facts to assist you and your company in the safe operation of your lift truck.

The maximum safe distance to have the forks is as low as possable but no mre than 6 inches off the floor.