melvin, send me a mail richard@fmstech(dot)co(dot)za. I will send you some information on how you can retro fit your vehicles

Dear friend, i facing some problem like what you have. what i can do is to modify the seat belt with switch just like car. if the seat belt not festering or on, the forklift can be start & traveling.

We have a variety of unique seatbelt solutions at triple w dot forklifttrainingsystem dot com under the products section. Before you retrofit any lift, make sure you improving the situation and I would suggest having a dealer install them.

I dont know what the labour law legislation is like in other countries but in south africa an employer has to take every precation available to them to ensure that their employees are safe. In the event of a tip over in a forklift truck the only real safety device is the seat belt and their safety cell. Should a driver be killed in the work place due to a forklift vehicle tipping over would you rather be standing infront of the investigating team telling them that this device was installed and you always encouraged drivers to wear their seatbelt or stand there and use a south african expression "angazi" which means " I dont know"

All well and good but what stops the operator coupling the seat belt and sitting on the belt??

Guys we sell a seat belt unit which prevents the driver from starting the vehicle until his seat belt is locked in. It works on almost any vehicle and can use either the existing or a replacement seat belt. I will put details of it on our website soon look up FMS Technology in south africa on the web

All good comments guys. I especially like the idea of hooking the seatbelt to a light mounted on the top to alert whether the seatbelt is attached. I certainly agree that it mostly is a management issue but not everyone is blessed with competant or qualified managers. We have ordered the fluorescent belts and are going to give that a try and then if needed we might try an interlocking system. Thanks for the replies guys!

Seatbelt interlock is already available on almost all OEM New Forklift Trucks in USA.

Just not Mandated....Yet!

That is comming soon!

Like Ed said, it is a simple matter of ordering a a seatblet From most of the 3rd party aftermarketters out there.

Just look at the Schematic and I am sure any well qualified Journeyman can figure it out.

Regards,

Doc

Our industry has implemeted a daily safety meeting with various canned topics available. That, along with management and supervisors getting after the operators is...mostly effective.
Still a battle though.

I theory you might be correct. But in actuality, explaining the issues involving a OSHA fine to some operators can be like explaining to a 16 year old with a brand new driver's license the consequences exceeding the speed limit or DUI. Some will pay heed, some will heed the rules for a while and will not from the get go.

so in trucks made now, and sold in the USA, there is a requirement that they have an operator in place or lift/lower and drive are disrupted. this makes a seat switch something that is even on Internal Combustion units. this way you still have motor operation to steer, brake, (etc...), but must be in the seat to lift lower or drive. many also have alarms and or lights for the seatbelt. this makes it almost trivial to wire the seat switch and seatbelt switch in series (instead of the parallel circuits they normally are) thus requiring operator in seat, and seatbelt on before lifting lowering or travel.
The only way I know to prevent an operator from connecting the seatbelt behind him is to explain that OSHA's fine for a routine disabling of a safety device (as opposed to the normal mistaken failure to use a required safety device) can be a multiple of the normal fine, as much as 10 times the fine for failure to enforce the routine use of a safety device. and there can be no arguement that a seatbelt attached but then sat upon is a "routine disabling" of a safety device

Again the need for such devices is due to local management failing to manage or discipline the workforce. As several contributors have said you can fit the seatbelt to integrate with different truck systems, but they are all flawed. If you interlock with the starter, then once started, the belt can be removed, If you interlock with run, effective BUT what happens if the operator pops the belt latch when he is going along? possibly no power steering, power brakes, (after a few applications), and iof he gets into trouble, reattach the belt, restart and then move, interlock with the transmission, pop the belt when travelling and you are coasting, technically not in control of the truck, and all can be fooled by sitting on the belt!
Best idea is to leave the truck alone, have a flourescent belt rather than black so it can be easily seen as a previous contributor suggested, and have it switching a light on the overhead guard. The light is on when the belt is not latched and the truck has drive is enabled or the engine is running.

I understand your "try & see" approach. Just one thing to watch for and that's the operator will buckle the seat belt and sit on it. Have seen that many times before in my travels over 40 years. Good Luck

Talked to another Hyster service guy and he quoted me a price for an electric interrupt seatbelt. I suppose the other guy just didn't want to do the actual work of putting it in so he told me it wasn't available. Either way I think we might try it on one of our lifts to see how we like it and how effective it is. Thanks for the good comments.

Matt, manufacturers are making the seatbelts easier to use since most late models allow the operator to rotate thier hips in the seat when travelling in reverse. Some of our famale operators claim that there hips are wider and are unable to turn around at all. The older styles were a rachet type that, after a few hours of twisting woud lead to back pain. There is an Austrailian retro-fit product that looks interesting and keeps one side of the belt extended when not connected.