So here, we’ll help you understand who’s at risk and how to prevent some of the most common forklift accidents.Ĭontrary to what some may believe, forklift drivers aren’t the only ones at risk for serious injury. It’s estimated that 70 percent of these accidents could be avoided with proper safety training and policies. According to the National Safety Council, these accidents cost employers an average of $48,000 per work-related disabling injury and $1.39 million per death. There’s no question that the human costs are high, but forklift accidents hurt financially, too. OSHA estimates that there are 110,000 forklift accidents each year and that an American worker is killed in a forklift-related accident every three days. In other words: whatever your actions to increase forklift safety, it means nothing if you don’t control your drivers’ behavior.As fun as they look to operate, forklifts are a serious workplace hazard. And essentially intentionally committing half of the above mentioned causes for serious forklift accidents as speeding, improper turning, or driving a forklift one did not have the proper training or certification for. Is there ample room for maneuvering? Are the aisles wide enough to navigate and turn in? Has the available space been adapted to a new forklift model or a rise in traffic volume? How about clutter discipline, too much noise and/or insufficient lighting? Cowboy behaviorĭriving the forklift with an elevated load. When these zones are insufficiently marked or not defined in any other way, this increases the risk and muddles the accountability for accidents. In an ideal environment both should never overlap. These zones could be prohibited for either the forklift or the worker on foot. Insufficiently planned and marked no-go zones Depending on the height and weight of the load, this can – and sometimes does – cause severe injury or death. Most often, but not necessarily only, when turning, braking, driving over uneven surfaces or bad mast-operation. Particularly loose or badly stacked loads, have a higher risk of falling from the mast. Keep in mind that not all reasons for a malfunction with damaging effects are visible without exhaustive checks. And thus to potentially lethal accidents. Faulty equipmentĭue to lack of parts or inappropriately used accessories, inexpertly fixed and badly maintained machinery is more prone to unexpected behavior. Too often routine, overconfidence or workload-pressure will make drivers exceed the recommended operation speed. If there is one thing every manual or training program cannot stress enough it’s that “forklifts are not designed for speed”. “1 in 5 forklift accidents and 1 in 3 forklift-related deaths involve a worker on foot.” Within the general number of fatal forklift accidents these fatalities from collision with pedestrians rank as follows: crushed between vehicle and a surface (25%), crushed between two vehicles (11%), struck or run over (10%). More than one in three of forklift-related deaths are pedestrians. Collisions with workers on foot or other vehiclesĪs much as one in five forklift accidents involve a worker on foot. Whether caused by turning too quickly, driving or turning on an incline or uneven surface, overweight or imbalanced loads, driving with an elevated load or abrupt mast movement, … forklift overturns account for about 22% of all victims of forklift accidents. And to continuously upgrade, update and compensate for changing environments, machinery, work processes, etc. Even the most comprehensive certification process and driver’s training program is only as effective as the commitment to adhere to it. Inadequate or insufficiently trained operatorsĪbout one in every four forklift accidents is due to inadequate driver training. And one with far-reaching consequences at that. A necessary acknowledgement, if you will, of a relevant workplace problem. So without investigating solutions or prevention methods, it might be expedient to take a closer look at the different types and causes of forklift accidents. Not during its lifetime but every year! And these numbers represent forklift accidents that involve either death or serious injury.Įven if you happen to be in the unenviable position of having close knowledge of forklift accidents, this statistic will seem high. Statistically, one in every ten forklifts will be involved in an accident.
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