The victim was a 40-year-old male forklift truck operator for a food production and distribution company, who worked for the company approximately seven years. The day of the incident he was performing the typical task of moving product to a different row of the warehouse using a forklift truck. During this task, the load of product became caught in the narrow aisles and the victim lowered the load back to the ground. He tilted the mast forward and stood between the mast and the cage looking over the load to see the obstacle that was preventing him from placing the product onthe shelf. His foot caught the lever, which controlled the mast causing it to tilt back toward the cage. He tried to duck out of the way, but was unsuccessful; his head was crushed between the mast and cage.

 OSHA extimates that over 1,000,000 million forklifts are used at U.S. workplaces.  Accidents like the one above occur all to often.  OSHA specific training regulations went into effect in December 1999.  These new training regulations save 100 lives a year.

Items covered during training are:  keep all body parts in cab and lockout/tagout equipment before working on it.  Following these 2 simple rules would have saved this operator’s life.  Because forklifts are so widely used, operator’s underestimate their dangers and hazards.

The standard requires employers to develop and implement a training program based on the general principles of safe truck operation, the types of vehicle(s) being used in the workplace, the hazards of the workplace created by the use of the vehicle(s), and the general safety requirements of the OSHA standard.

Trained operators must know how to do the job properly and do it safely as demonstrated by workplace evaluation. Formal (lecture, video, etc.) and practical (demonstration and practical exercises) training must be provided.

Employers must also certify that each operator has received the training and evaluate each operator at least once every three years.

Prior to operating the truck in the workplace, the employer must evaluate the operator's performance and determine the operator to be competent to operate a powered industrial truck safely.

Refresher training is needed whenever an operator demonstrates a deficiency in the safe operation of the truck.

Training shall consist of a combination of formal instruction (e.g., lecture, discussion, interactive computer learning, video tape, written material), practical training (demonstrations performed by the trainer and practical exercises performed by the trainee), and evaluation of the operator's performance in the workplace.

I do a lot of forklift training for my clients and I appreciate the work, but bringing this training in-house is a good move.  It makes since economically and from a safety standpoint.  If you don’t want to take the time to develop your own safety training program, buying a training package makes sense. 

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