Forklift Safety Tips

5 Forklift Safety Tips That Reduce Costs

Every company is looking to reduce costs while keeping employees as efficient as possible. While there are many ways to do this, the most beneficial to employer and employee alike is investing in safety equipment, procedures, and training. Workplaces that implement safety and health management systems are able to reduce costs by up to 40% by minimizing risks of workplace injuries to employees and equipment. The following five tips will walk you through the basics of how to do it.

Hiring and Training the Right Employees is Very Important

Managers have to find the employees that are the right fit for the job, but when it comes to finding employees that are the right fit for a forklift, it can be more complicated. There are many different skills and qualifications an employee needs to correctly operate your lifts. And, making sure you choose the right employee to do so is important to creating a safe work environment for all employees. Because lift trucks are available in different equipment classes not every employee is fit to operate every lift. The right candidate needs to be hired and assigned to the job that best fits their experience and abilities.

Hiring the right employee is only the first step, however. After you’ve found the employee that is best qualified and suited to your company’s needs there is still work to be done. In order to create the safest work environment possible for employees, every new forklift operator needs to be sufficiently and extensively trained before being on their own with your equipment. This is not only for their safety, but for the safety of everyone around them. Failure to do this cannot only create an unsafe environment for your employees, but can also have a negative effect on the overall efficiency of the company.

According to the National Safety Council, 70% of lift truck accidents are caused by operator error.

Effective forklift training methods for your employees can help to cut accidents by 25% to 30% according to MHL News. This is done by reducing equipment damage, equipment downtime, and damage to your products.

An important part of training employees is the methods you use for training. While training employees in the classroom with videos and other physical materials is important, you must also allow your employees hands on training with other experienced forklift operators that can mentor them throughout the process. This can also encourage questions from your new employees to further involve them in the training and give them a better understanding of safety procedures – increasing their chances of being a successful and safe forklift operator.

It’s also important to make sure you train employees based on the conditions they will be working in. Employees cannot be given a standardized training program, but instead need to be taught with specific training methods that relate to the exact job they will be doing and the conditions they will be working in.

Don’t Forget About Maintenance

Safety is not solely based on the operation of the equipment being used. Equipment that is not properly maintained creates a work environment that is unsafe and can reduce the efficiency with which tasks can be completed. Something as simple as an oil leak can cause downtime for your equipment. If that equipment is not properly maintained that oil leak can lead to other issues before the leak is fixed causing you to have equipment downtime as well as any other delays caused by a failure to deal with the leak – such as employees slipping in the oil. Making sure that you use some kind of preventive maintenance (PM) program for your equipment is the best way to ensure this kind of issue is taken care of before it can cause additional damage.

Maintenance doesn’t only cut costs by reducing downtime, it also reduces the costs of fines being incurred by your company. OSHA requires that lifts be inspected and maintained daily.  Failure to do so can cost up to $70,000 for repeat violations. These kinds of fines can have a severe impact on the financial state of your company. Using PM programs offered by lift truck dealers can help to avoid these kinds of penalties and allow you to focus on the performance of your company.

Monitor Your Equipment Closely

With modern technology it is now easier than ever to keep a close eye on your lifts. Now you cannot only monitor your equipment, but your maintenance programs as well. Remote data monitoring about critical maintenance and other metrics regarding your fleet can be available to you at any time. Sensors can be applied to your lifts that will give you important information such as fault codes, notifications about upcoming PM’s, and even hazardous driving.

Monitoring software may also be used to observe different metrics involving the use of your lifts. These metrics can tell you the cost efficiency of your lift or even tell you if you’re spending too much time or money on one lift in particular. Most importantly monitoring your equipment is a great way to stay informed about the needs of your lifts to prevent accidents caused by technical issues before they happen.

Keep Your Operators in Control

A great way to keep employees safe when operating lifts is to keep the operators comfortable and in control of their movement. Ergonomic accessories are great at keeping the operator comfortable and removing the likelihood that your operator is fatigued, making them aware of their surroundings.

These work conditions facilitate higher productivity due to increased awareness and comfort while operating lifts. In recent years many great advancements in ergonomic features for forklift operators, designed to keep them alert and productive when operating equipment, have been produced. Some ergonomic features that help keep a safe work environment suggested by MHL News include:

• Adjustable armrests
• Adjustable steering columns with programmable tilt memory
• Fingertip controls for easy accessibility
• Electric power steering for reducing road shock through the steering wheel/tiller
• Padded compartments for added comfort
• Flexible control and support surfaces so operators can adjust the most comfortable position

Safety Programs Save You Money

Safety programs are beneficial to everyone at your company. Investing in a safety program can help employees by creating safer working conditions that help to avoid injuries as well as OSHA fines. These programs can also help financially by increasing productivity thanks to lowered downtime of equipment and better knowledge of how to operate lifts leading to an increase in productivity from employees involved in the program. Implementing a safety program can allow your employees to stay up to date on how to best operate the equipment they use everyday creating a much lower need to train new employees due to old employees leaving because of unsafe work conditions or being injured and requiring time off to recover.