OSHA is seeking comment and information about possible deregulatory action involving general industry, construction, and maritime standards for forklifts and other powered industrial trucks.

The US safety body is seeking to address differences between its regulations and updates to the two industry consensus standards which were the basis of its original standard. The agency also wants to know whether it can maintain or improve worker safety while addressing elements of the regulations that may be inefficient, outdated, unnecessary, or overly burdensome.

The original general industry standard dates back to June 1971 and OSHA last revised its standards on 1 December 1998. The agency based its initial regulations on the 1969 editions of two industry consensus standards: American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) Safety Standard for Powered Industrial Trucks, B56.1, and the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) standard for Type Designation, Areas of Use, Maintenance and Operation of Powered Industrial Trucks, NFPA 505.

Both industry standards have been revised several times, most recently in 2018.

The 1998 OSHA revision added operator training and evaluation requirements.

Comments and data submissions are due to the agency by 10 June 2019.