Good reply, thank you. I also have been invovled in an investigation involving a forward moving collision with injuries. The operator was moving down a ramp with his forks fully lowered and tilted all the way forward when he hit a manhole cover in the floor. The forklift was large (25K lbs capacity) which stopped abruptly when it made contact. The operator catapulted over the steering head first thru the cab windshield. Luckly he was wearing a hardhat at the time. He did contact the steering wheel breaking a few ribs and the forklift suffered a severly bent fork. The operator developed this bad habit over time and was lucky until that day. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time which contributed to the injuries.
Another factor to consider with seat belt use is; will extra protection such as shoulder harness type belts help the opertor keep control of the forklift in crisis situation?