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Safety and Health Topics > OSHA's Teen Worker Website - Real Stories > Tom's Story Tom's Story The forklift operator was a 16-year-old male hired as a summer helper to label bins and move stock by hand around the warehouse. The warehouse has a forklift, and it was common practice to leave the forklift’s operating key in the ignition switch when the forklift was not being operated. Prior to the accident, the victim was observed operating the forklift several times, most recently on the morning of the accident. He was advised several times by a number of employees not to operate the forklift. The victim was not trained nor was he certified as competent to operate the forklift. There were no witnesses to the accident. However, it is believed that the victim boarded the forklift, without putting on the seatbelt, raised the forks with an empty pallet to a height of approximately 10 feet, and drove down the left side of the loading dock ramp. The ramp slopes away from the building at an angle of approximately 33 degrees on the left side near the street level. There was a stack of empty pallets across the bottom of the ramp, and it appears that the victim was attempting to place the empty pallet on top of the stack before the close of business. With the forks raised to a height of approximately 10 feet on a 33 degree slope, the forklift’s center of gravity may have shifted, creating an unstable condition and causing the forklift to topple sideways. The victim was crushed under the truck. |
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