As safety professionals there needs to be an accepted start-off point that everyone is in agreement with and a basic acceptance of fact.
When in comes to lift trucks, the fact is a simple one: pedestrians have the right-of-way. To promote anything else could cause legal exposure if you are a consultant/trainer charging for your services.
If you are employed as a health and safety person and promote anything other than this fact, I do have to question your decision.
You can talk about all the other items; safety garments, travel speed, no-go zones - whatever. These are secondary to the fundamentals of lift truck use.
Based on some of the replies that I've seen on this and other postings, it concerns me that we can't have a short answer to a very specific question that everyone agrees on. It shows why lift truck accidents still happen in the numbers that we see!

1. What is this "right of way" and what is it's purpose?

I would submit that a "right of way" is simply "who goes first through a specific location whether it be an aisle, intersection or other spot where pedestrian meets machine."

Purpose: To ensure a safer workplace for all. ( Especially in those areas where it is of necessity for pedestrians and lift operators to interact and comingle )

There are really 3 basic areas we are discussing.

a) Warehouse and related docks. In this area I honestly beleive that the pedestrian should give up right of way as the lift traffic would by nature be loaded and moving. ( this is also the primary work area for most lift traffic ) There is by nature very little pedestrian traffic in this area.

I actually greet every pedestrian I see in the warehouse area with "How can I help you?" ( Once we see and acknowledge each other the risk of an accident drops dramatically ) again...there is very little pedestrian traffic in a typical warehouse. ( Home depot or Sams is far from typical )

b) Plant floors. This area tends to have far more pedestrian traffic ( this is their work area ) I beleive that it is the lift operator that should show extreme caution and low speed (and give up right of way) The lift operator has a pick up or delivery ( maybe both ) but speed in this area is not the way to go. ( I would submit that these Stores like Home Depot fall into this area )

c) common areas such as entrances to office areas, breakrooms, bathroom facilities..ect.

again..Pedestrians are in far greater numbers here and the lift operator should show considerable caution and give up right of way in these types of areas. The operator should also have the habit of engaging the parking brake and taking the key with him/her when they must leave their lift ( in a designated area of course ). The worste accident I have ever witnessed was a pedestrian getting on a lift that he had no business getting on. ( he was about to be late to clock in )

All of these "safety devices" are ok i guess...but in reality..Safety is a way of thinking. It's knowing when to drive and when to slow the $#@$@ down. ( speed is a great thing to use...in its appropriate area but it can KILL when used unwisely ) It's paying attention to your load, your lift, and your surroundings. It's taking "ownership" in your job and the area(s) in which you work.

Legislating or Engineering Safety will NEVER work. It is after all a human thing that machines will never understand.

just my.02

Well I have read your comments but have yet to see any positive reply.
Every where i have worked on customers site have made every posible effort to ensure employee saftey. This was done by seperating to pedestrion from the forklifts, ie walk ways marked out, barrieers put in place. The use of hi vis vests. If you think about the the question it would be the pedestrion who should give way because of the loads these machines can carry and it is more dangerous to use excessive braking which would make the machine unstable and unsafe. I am not saying that the operator should not drive around like king of the forklift as they to have a responsability of other people around them and their saftey.

Honden
I must admit to initially passing your contribution over to my mental junk box but later retrieved it for in-depth consideration.
You are of course correct!
When I paint a mental image of it, toss it around & look at it from a reverse perspective you are right on the money.
I think that our society (world wide) is focused on the bottom line. we should all consider the other persons view/perspective re safety at work.
The bottom line is important, without it we all would not have jobs.
Safety at work must never be compromised!
What is the value of the bottom line compared to a human life?
Thank god for each & every Safety officer in all parts of our world!

Most forklift operators look at pedestrians in a warehouse as obstacles. Its far better to give them ( pedestrians ) the right of way so that they leave the immediate area as quickly as possible.

Al S You are right! Australia has no clear defined model to follow & it appears to be the same over there
The industry is sitting on the fence or a dollar each way bet on the subject.
This clearly is not good enough because the owners & users world wide need a clear direction or path to go down.
An operator can be easily confused as to what the rules are where & when.
To use a simile can you imagine what would happen if there were no road rules or traffic lights or the rules were to be diffrent in each locality on our roads - multiplicities of death & injuries on a grand scale.
A study should be undertaken to evaluate each case by the manufacturers & users and should include Safety Professionals but only the professionals with intimate knowlege on the use of forklifts.
Curently safety is being compramised by production schedules & profit margins.
I for one am prepared o call a spade a spade and suggest that an international forum be convened to thrash out the correct model or criteria to be considerd when an organisation or government is adopting their safety policies.
We as industry professionals have the obligation or duty of care to give clear as possible information to all empoyers & legislators.
We can not, must not sit on the fence and have a dollar each way nor can we continue to bury our heads in the sand.

Ok now, lets look at this again!,
Half of the responses are for pedestrians to have the right of way, and the other half says the forklift has the right of way!
This is a very important issue, as pedestrian/forklift fatalities can account for 40% of all forklift fatalities. People are dying daily as we speak because we "the safety experts" can't make up our minds as to which method to use.

Its the fork lift operators responsibilty to look out for pedestrians.
And all wharehouse operatives should be made aware they look out for fork lift trucks.
So 50/50
But i teach drivers to pay attention and give way to pedestrians as the pedestrian do not know the operation of a fork lift.

Lift Truck operators, like all powered mobile equipment must yield to pedestrians. So.....the simple answer is, Pedestrians Have The Right-Of-Way.
Operators must have care & control of their vehicles at all times and exercise "due diligence".
Now, Implementation & understanding is another matter. Pedestrians should be told to yield to lift trucks and watch out for their own safety. A pedestrian could be right, but they could be dead right.
The burden is on the operator to prove that they were taking all the precautions.

Wayne,

I would not blame your marketing, I can say that since we offer free pedestrian awareness training to our training clients and have only had a few take advantage of it - guess we might have to start paying them to do it!

In 99% of the facilities I deal with it is know that the pedestrian has the right of way. This does not mean that they may walk out in front of a lift at will but rather if the two meet quickly the responsibility for the pedestrians safety falls to the forklift operator. In a few rare cases I have seen companies allow the forklift the right of way and instruct pedestrians of this. In either case the pedestrian needs to stay aware of the surroundings and avoid forklifts and the drivers need to be careful around people and keep a watchful eye out. Forklift operators are fully trained but pedestrians usually get awareness training if any at all.

We are finding in our Alberta worksite poll of about 2200 operators so far a 50/50 split between the forklift and the pedestrian. So our conclusion is that nobody really knows for sure. A long standing standard adopted years ago in the larger plantsites is that the bigger machine was granted the right of way. This has now trickled down through to the smaller companies and is widely accepted.

My observation is that it's usually the pedestrian that's granted the right-of-way in most workplaces. I've never seen a workplace with a "no right-of-way" policy or one with a machinery right-of-way unless in an area that's been restricted to pedestrians. In the end it's up to the employer to determine what works best.