Around 150 forklift operators will gather in Clark County, Ohio from November 7-8 for the annual US Open Forklift Safety Rodeo that had its beginnings in an event for a larger transport vehicle.

It all began with school bus rodeos.

Dick Higgins from event sponsor Higgins Group Inc tells Forkliftaction.com News he was part of a group of workplace safety officers who formed the independent organisation, Springfield/Clark County Safety Council (SCCSC), in 1994.

"In the pursuit of some form of a safety event that would showcase the council, we came upon the idea of featuring one of the world's foremost, chronic workplace hazards - forklift operations," Higgins says.

SCCSC organised the first forklift safety rodeo in the northern hemisphere autumn of 1995 after observing the success enjoyed by school bus rodeos. It promoted the rodeo as "a competitive, fun event to motivate the safe and efficient operation of powered industrial trucks".

"What started out as a local county-wide event soon spread to include surrounding counties, then an all-Ohio event and what you see now, an international event," Higgins says.

He adds that the SCCSC has been consistently ranked as one of Ohio's top five safety councils because of the rodeo and its other programs.

At this year's rodeo, participants will choose four out of nine events and be timed and graded for errors or omissions. For errors or omissions including the breaking of rodeo rules or the striking of traffic safety cones, penalty points are given. Time is added to the overall score for each penalty point.

Operators will also take a 25-question quiz on forklift operations and bonus points are awarded for correct answers. The bonus points are then converted into time that is deducted, thereby improving the score.

Forklift operators participate in teams of two representing their sponsoring company and all operators also participate individually.

Higgins says that the rodeo has evolved into two separate divisions.

"We found that a handful of exceptionally skilled operators were dominating the competition. So now all previous individual champions have been brought together to compete in a "Masters division".

Everyone else competes in the "Championship division" and the top three each year are inducted into the Master's league.

Participants compete for trophies, custom-designed jackets and a cash prize of up to USD750.

Sponsors include the SCCSC, KMH Systems Inc, Sentry Protection Products and Forkliftaction.com.