I believe in learning from other people; their success and failures. In regards to Forklifts I am always looking for the new technology that will make the work safer and easier. In addition I look at the accidents and causes.
In review of the accidents the common denominators I find are:
1. Attitude/Maturity-Person is below age or does not have the maturity to operate a forklift that can cause millions of damage to your company and just quit afterwards. Leaving people there to clean up the mess and a hit on managers judgments.
2. High Speed-At turns, different surfaces, and lack of visibility.
3. Center of Gravity of load and forklift-This is difficult for personnel with low maturity and attitude which become a higher risk for an accident.
4. Management-No safety training, planning, program and not supervising the person to do the work safely.
5. Not using safety devices-No seat belts. People jumping from forklifts causing most deaths.

Personnel working in warehouses to maintain the work and operate machinery to a high and safe standard is difficult. The budgeting for the warehouse salary is low since it is normally a Non Revenue section. New personnel should be held on probation for at least a pay period to observe their ability to be effective and safe before putting them on a $10-$100K forklift with a possibility of injuring or killing a person.