This week's newsletter comes to you from Hannover, amid the buzz of CeMAT 2016. As flagged previously, Forkliftaction has almost its entire team at the event and we are all catching up with the latest developments and sharing some of our own. For example, did you notice our new, refreshed logo? It is a sign of many significant changes to come.
But back to CeMAT and the flotilla of materials handling equipment on the site - not just the machines on show, but the army of equipment used to set up the displays. The real surprise is how little attention is apparently paid to forklift safety in the real world. As the crews tried to get everything done ahead of the opening, there were forklifts buzzing around perilously close to pedestrians, people driving aerial work platforms at maximum height with limited visibility below, forks raised at all sorts of heights and dubiously packed pallets hurtling around. And no-one raised an eyebrow.
Sure, the drivers may have been competent and focussed, but the real risk was to pedestrians, whom we all know are the weakest link in any environment.
The reality of forklifts at work was somewhat at odds with the emphasis on safety which is quite rightly so prominent on many of the stands.