Forklift Awareness
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Robert
Poole
St. Paul Fire & Marine Company
Forklift Accidents
- OSHA estimates
that there are 680,400 forklift accidents each year (1997)
- Approximately
90,000 employees suffer some type of injury
- losses affect
employees
- physical suffering
- mental suffering
Benefits of forklifts
- Assist in the
movement of materials
- Reduce employee
lifting injuries
Forklift potential
problems
- Pedestrians
- Blind spots
- Indoors/Outdoors
- Narrow aisles
(and aisle intersections)
- Building columns
- Operate 24 hours
per day
- Turning radius
Forklift and Pedestrians
- Pedestrians contribute
to accidents
- Pedestrians do
not understand stopping distances
- Pedestrians tried
to beat a lift truck
Methods used to reduce
Forklift Accidents
- Training of drivers
- Maintenance of
equipment
- Areas of operation
Forklift Accidents
- Losses affect
employers
- damage to
equipment
- loss productivity
A breakdown of the
680,400 accidents:
- 90,000 employees
injured
- 100 deaths
Source: Powered industrial
truck accidents report through OSHA's "First report of serious accidents"
1985-1990
In percent what Causes Lift Truck Accidents?
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