man did this turn into a touchy subject. no one wants people to get hurt however there are (as ed so eloquently pointed out) people out there that have their own ways of doing things and nobody is going to change their mind. if a company has a 6 year safety record i sure as **** can't improve it. please dont take this wrong dan but things must be a little different up there because if you came into a business down here reading a "riot act" you would probably be shown the door and "assistance" with your egress would be readily available.

There is more than just one reason why the forks should be tilted slightly back. Not having the incident that Cownd reported but also for the well being of pedestrians.

Btw, it can help decrease the cost of repairs. They have been fortunate over the past 6 years but their day will come, and then they will be forced to rethink their policy.

And the other hand, you can always get me in there for their next training session and I could read them the riot act!

Cownd, I thank you.
Now you have made my head swell up so large I don't know if I can get out the door.

Edward T, your input is always appreciated; thank you.

I know of an end user (that division of a fortune 1000 manufacturer) who always keep the forks slightly tilted forward. they are also very careful, and drive at a max of 4 MPH, and have no lost time accidents in over 6 years. there is just no way they were going to listen to me, when I told them that was just plain wrong.
Who and how can you argue with a 6 year accident free, 100+ employee and 35+ sitdown forklift operation with a safety record like that.

Why were the forks tilted All The Way forward? Why were the forks tilted forward at all?

You hit the problem at the start, and not wait til an incident occurs and then ask why certain safety devices are not made or available.

If the forks were tilted somewhat back, then this incident would have not occurred and you wouldn't be asking this question.

Proper, effective, and caring forklift safety training is the way to get it done!

IS THAT BETTER, ED?

"will extra protection such as shoulder harness type belts help the opertor keep control of the forklift"

obviously not, if they don't wear it

In any of those cases, would having had a restraint that secured the operator's shoulders in place (as I understand the advantage of a 5 point over a lap belt) -available- have made any differneces? if it is not used?
And would not having the belt USED have prevented both of these very serious injuries? I know I have seen accidents where the motor was torn off the mounts and the frame "tweakeed" out of alignment, in a 2 truck full speed forks to forks direct impact, but the operators were in good enough condition to blame each other, as both had lapbelts in use.
And has there been any consideration that using a "racing style" -anything- would make the operator feel as though their level of "impervious" was increased so higher speeds were considered "OK".
Not to mention the fact that an operator MUST be able to see and drive "forks last" and not held into a "forks first" position?
Cownd, I apologize if we seem to consider the subject in too light a manner, no serious injury should be considered humorous. after all, thats why they are -serious- injuries.

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?

Don't agree fully with comments above. Seat belts are also to prevent the driver being thrown into the mast if there is a forward collision with a heavy/ imoveable object.
I have been invovled in investigating a death that resulted in part from a forklift colliding with a building column (hidden by the mast while forklift following a curved route); the very serious injury of a driver traveling at full speed - 22 km/h - with the fork tips on the ground and the tips hit a jump-up at the join between two concrete slabs. And I've heard of other cases though have not been directly invovled so i'm not as certain of the details.

And a further note - the driver of a counterbalance forklift needs to be able to rotate his hips when travelling in reverse - and even withn a simple lap belt and a trucj style tensioner the driver can have problems with the reel brake engaging. A full race style harness would make travel in reverse problematic

Tip overs are an unforntuate reality. Fatailites happen when the operator is not properly restrained; so any additonal tip over protection done properly I believe makes sense. My request is for constructive advice from experianced people that might have seen or have had experiances with this issue.

With Chrome lift chains, and a diamond plate hood?
and only left hand turns.

yeah but how cool would that look....aircraft aluminum bucket seat with titanium anchors on a five point restraint system. if it had a cab you could remove the windows and weld the doors closed. do they make headers for an H-20 engine?

If the truck only went forward it might be desirable. Or maybe in the
case of the rotating seat configuration. (rarely seen)
Video cameras?
How would you look in the direction of and keep a clear view of the path of travel?

Let us start from the source. Let us also work the source for forklift tipovers.

Speed, turning a corner too sharply, too abruptly is the biggest cause of forklift tipovers, especially when the truck is empty. If people would slow down when turning, we can eliminate many tipovers.

It always amazes me on how many people out there believe, either because they have been taught, or merely assumed, that a forklift is more stable empty, hence they can drive faster without a load.

So, if we work on the root of the problem, then maybe we can lessen the amount of tipovers.

That being said, Ed is correct. Seatbelts merely restrain the operator from jumping in a tipover situation, and not there to protect an operator from a head-on collision.

Just looking for additional layers of protection during a tip over.