Danny Maron, owner/trainer of Ideal Forklift Training in Canada's national capital, is an independent consultant, providing the education lift truck operators require, to businesses and government, to minimise the chance of incidents in the workplace. Before founding Ideal in 2000, Danny was a trainer at Canada's largest forklift dealer.
Anyone familiar with dieting and the likes of the Atkins or South Beach diet programs knows that eating carbs (sugars) is forbidden. One way to lose weight is to reduce carb intake to a minimum while your body eats off the sugars already stored, causing you to lose weight.
In the forklift business, pedestrians are the carbs. The biggest obstacle to flowing easily around a warehouse or manufacturing plant is pedestrians. Forklift operators face many hurdles during the course of a day. Some of those obstacles may be pallets filled with inventory, rack units and machinery. The main differences between the aforementioned items and humans is that humans have brains and they can move on their own. And humans (pedestrians) are unpredictable.
I teach my students that although it is not okay to hit anything, hitting humans is not an option. Safety is paramount and must reign supreme when operating a forklift. If one should hit a loaded pallet, rack or piece of machinery, these items can all be replaced or repaired. Hit a pedestrian, and that pedestrian will be severely injured, or killed.
As a forklift operator, it is frustrating to witness pedestrians demonstrating no respect or care when walking or working around forklifts. It is up to the operator to look out for pedestrians and, not knowing their intent, operators must be extra careful when one or more pedestrians are working or walking nearby.
As I explain to my students, no-one will ever have to put their hands in their pockets unless you hit somebody. A company can dismiss a worker for damage to the forklift, property or goods, but they cannot financially charge them. On the other hand, should an operator be held liable for injuring or killing a pedestrian, there are liabilities that the operator must contend with. And ultimately, that is what we are trying to avoid.
There is a solution, and that is to mandate pedestrian training for employees working or entering these warehouses and plants who are not operators, but the likelihood of that occurring is nil. So, all we can hope for and in my teachings, expect is that the operator does not hit anybody with the forklift. And that means listening and looking all over when driving the forklift - looking all around them, everywhere, front, sides, rear corners and behind them, before reversing their trucks.
And do not rely on mirrors, but know for certain with their own two eyes that there is no pedestrian traffic around their forklift, or anyone who will cross paths with their forklift, before they move their lift trucks in any direction.
Whether it is losing weight or forklift operations, doing it right will provide positive benefits for all, and make everyone smile at the end of the day!