We’ve talked about how much detail goes into a forklift inspection checklist on daily inspections. When operating big vehicles and machinery like forklifts, there are a lot of safety precautions to be taken to prevent accidents and injuries. Having a forklift inspection checklist may be one of the ways to improve your forklift safety procedures, but there are many other steps that you need to take when operating a forklift.
Table of Contents
Ensure Proper Training and Certification
Before hiring or appointing anyone to operate the forklift, ensure that your worker has the proper training and certifications to handle a forklift. Ensure that your worker has updated knowledge about forklifts. As companies change and upgrade their forklifts, the employer must ensure that the operators have the appropriate certification and training to operate the appointed forklifts.
Having the appropriate training and certification helps assure employers that their employees are well informed about the forklifts. Hence, it would reduce the risks and chances of the employees getting into accidents due to the lack of knowledge. The operators would know what to do in case of emergencies. Having the appropriate training and certification is the first step in forklift safety procedures.
Safety Equipment and Attires
It takes two hands to clap. The employees should not be the only ones to care about learning and understanding how to function forklifts, but when it comes to safety, the employers also have the duty to ensure that their employees have the appropriate safety equipment and attires when operating a forklift. This is one of the most crucial parts of the forklift safety procedures to ensure that the workers are ready to work with forklifts.
Ensure that your workers are not directly handling with bare hands and have safety gloves and safety goggles ready. Protect your workers from head to toe, check that they are wearing high visibility jackets, long pants, and boots or protective shoes at all times. Protect the head by wearing safety helmets or hard hats. Do make sure that the forklift operators are wearing long pants and shirts to protect every part of their body.
Protective wear is not only important for the people operating the forklifts, but those who are working around forklifts should also be equipped with protective gear such as high visibility jackets. Wearing high visibility jackets would reduce the risk of colliding with a forklift in use. High visibility jackets should be worn by those who are working on-site with forklifts. Having everyone wear protective gear helps to improve forklift safety procedures by protecting the workers and reducing the chances of injuries.
Conduct Daily Inspections
Conducting regular inspections is an essential part of forklift safety procedures. It is crucial to conduct daily inspections to check if the engines, machines, and spare parts are in good condition to ensure that the forklifts are in good condition to be used. This helps to prevent any vehicle breakdowns, or put workers in any dangerous situation. Imagine only discovering that the break is loose while operating a forklift, the accident would impact not only the operator but also the people working around the area.
If inspections are not done properly, it could impose a risk to the operator as well as the people around. If there is a loose bolt that goes unseen, a part of the forklift would be loose and it would damage the forklift. Not only that but an unwanted accident might happen.
This is why conducting daily inspections would help to ensure that there are no faulty parts with the forklifts. Remember to wear protective attire and do not touch parts of the machines, engines, or chains of the forklift with your bare hands and be detailed during inspections. To reduce the chances of having broken parts, invest in good quality forklifts.
Understanding The Forklift’s Capacity
Aside from conducting daily inspections to prevent accidents from happening, it is also important to know the loading capacity of the forklifts in use. Although the forklift increases efficiency by being able to carry a heavy load, it is important to bear in mind that every machine has a loading capacity. You should not exceed the loading capacity of the forklift.
It is important to understand the dangers of overloading forklifts. Loading over the forklift’s capacity could tip off the vehicle. This would cause injury to the forklift operator and the people around. It would also damage the items loaded on the forklift as well as the forklift’s machines and parts.
As part of the forklift safety procedures, the supervisors should always be aware of the amount of load that the operators are loading onto the forklifts. Although there might be a temptation to finish the work faster by loading more items with the forklift. Overloading is extremely dangerous and would cause more harm than good. To prevent this from happening, ensure that you know the forklift’s capacity before renting or purchasing forklifts.
Conclusion
It is important to properly consult a professional who is knowledgeable about forklifts before purchasing or renting one. Consulting a professional would allow you to understand the proper forklift safety procedures. The consultants would be able to advise you on the suggested precautions you need to take. They would be able to inform you of the necessary precautions as well as how to take care of the forklifts and use it at their maximum efficiency.
Ensuring that you are doing all the necessary precautions and fulfilling the safety requirements to operate forklifts is essential to improve your forklift safety procedures. This would help in preventing any injuries and accidents. Complying with the correct forklift safety procedures would help you to protect your workers and improve workplace safety.