Rough terrain forklifts require the right operators to handle them and misuse can lead to serious accidents. The workhorses are designed to handle heavy loads and operate on challenging terrain.
Most rough terrain forklift accidents are caused by operator error. The right training procedures can help your employees understand how to carefully operate the equipment to prevent serious accidents.
The three most common types of accidents on rough terrain are:
- Rollovers
- Tipovers
- Collisions
And what causes the accidents? The culprits are:
- Slopes
- Dips, holes, and trenches
- Narrow aisles
- Ground and overhead obstructions
Think you have no time to train? Think again. BLR’s 7-Minute Safety Trainer helps you fulfill key OSHA-required training tasks in as little as 7 minutes. Try it at no cost and see!
Discuss Hazards Beforehand
One of the most important things to do is to hold a training session with your employees before they drive on the rough terrain. Discuss the hazards so they know what can occur if they do not practice the right safety habits when driving their forklifts. While the vehicles do move slowly, you can end up with serious problems if you do not load them correctly, and you can end up driving too quickly with the load.
1. Improve Visibility. It is important to keep the windows clean and to make sure people can see when they are driving the forklift. Do they need to wear glasses? Vision testing can help ensure you have people who can see accurately when they drive the forklift. Not having a clear line of sight when driving can easily cause an accident.
2. Failure to Pay Attention. How often do you find yourself dozing off when you are working? Employees often end up failing to pay attention when they work long hours or they do the same job several times. A routine can end up causing people to get careless on their job, which can lead to wrecks. Inattention while driving is something that you need to address as it costs the company thousands of dollars if an accident occurs.
3. Failure to Yield to Other Vehicles. Some wrecks occur when people fail to yield to other vehicles. If you hit something with a rough terrain forklift, it can end up causing major damage to the forklift and the other vehicle, not to mention the drivers. Not only do drivers need to yield to other vehicles, they need to be aware of the pedestrians who cross their paths.
4. Overloading. If your forklift is overloaded, it can cause it to tip to the side when you turn or when you are near a steep edge. Overloading the machine can be hazardous when you are trying to drive the machine forward as it is easy for the machine to be pushed to the side.
Effective, 7-minute sessions provide comprehensive safety training at an average cost of $1 a day. Get the details.
5. Misjudging Terrain. People often drive the machine on rough terrain and assume the forklift will be able to handle anything. While the machine is designed to work on rough terrain, it isn’t always set to work on all types of terrain. Misjudging terrain is something that can end up leading to serious accidents.
6. Failure to Inspect the Forklift. If a forklift is not inspected and serviced properly, it could end up with major problems. It is important to have the machine correctly maintained and inspected so it operates at its highest capability.
7. Improper Loading or Unloading. Another major reason accidents occur is because of improper loading and unloading of the forklift. A rough terrain forklift is set up to deal with a number of weights and loads, but the operator is the key component who focuses on keeping everyone safe and the machine safe and reliable.
You can help keep employees who work on and around forklifts safe by ensuring their training is effective. Good content is key to effective training but getting access to such content can be a hassle. Could you use prewritten safety sessions on more than 100 key safety topics? Read on to learn about a resource that may be just what you need …
Effective Safety Training in Just 7 Minutes!
To help train employees of all ages on a broad range of safety and health topics, savvy safety professionals have relied on BLR’s 7-Minute Safety Trainer for years. This essential training resource allows you to provide concise, memorable training easily and effectively in just a few minutes. Materials are ready to use, and each session supplies a detailed trainer’s outline, as well as a handout, quiz, and quiz answers, to get your points across quickly—and cost-effectively.
All told, this “trainer’s bible” contains 50 prewritten meetings covering almost every aspect of safety you would want or need to train on, in a format designed to be taught in as little as 7 minutes each. All of them are perfect for getting new employees off to a safe start, as well as keeping veteran workers alert and up to date on all your safety concerns.
Major topics in the 7-Minute Safety Trainer include:
—Confined spaces
—Electrical safety
—Fire safety and emergency response
—HazCom
—Machine guarding and lockout/tagout
—Material handling
—PPE use and care
—Housekeeping/slips, trips, and falls
—And dozens more
Download Table of Contents
Download Sample Safety Meeting
Just make as many copies as you need of the included handouts and quizzes, and you’re ready to train.
Equally important is that the program ships new meetings every quarter to respond to new and changed regulations. This service is included in the program price, which averages just over $1 a working day. In fact, this is one of BLR’s most popular safety programs.
If you’d like to personally evaluate 7-Minute Safety Trainer and see how it can build safety awareness, we’ll be happy to send it to you for 30 days on a no-cost, no-obligation trial basis. Just let us know and we’ll arrange it.