If you study the history of the neutral/hand brake stacking procedure, you will most likely find that it was not any legislature but rather the forklift manufacturers who devised this procedure. You can still find this procedure in many forklift operator manuals.

This stacking procedure could apply in the US despite OSHA or the B56 standards lack of direct comment on stacking procedures. One of the training areas that must be covered in the US is the operator's manual provided by the manufacturer.

OSHA 1910.178(l)(3)(i)(M) requires additional operator training for: "Any other operating instructions, warnings, or precautions listed in the operator's manual for the types of vehicle that the employee is being trained to operate."

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New Zealand's Approved Code of Practice for Training Operators and Instructors of Powered Industrial Trucks (Forklifts) originally required full use of the neutral/hand brake procedure. It was later revised to read as follows: "The correct stacking procedures using the inch-brake pedal, when applicable, should be encouraged as most forklifts have a torque converter and inch-brake pedal. It is not necessary to apply the hand brake except as a learner or in dangerous conditions such as elevating a person in an approved work platform. For internal combustion (engine) trucks that do not have an inch-brake pedal control (i.e. clutch models), select neutral and apply the park brake. On electric forklifts, apply the foot brake while stacking or destacking. The mast should have only sufficient rear tilt to maintain the forks horizontal for stacking, or to keep the load stable when stacking/destacking."