CENTRAL FREIGHT LINESForklift Accidents

Feb2015

DON’T BE SAFETY BLINDED...BESAFETY MINDED!!

Lets Talk about Forklift Safety

WE HAVE HAD 4 VERY SERIOUS FORKLIFT ACCIDENTS IN THE PAST 3 WEEKS HERE AT CENTRAL FREIGHT

LINES.OF THE 4 ACCIDENTS -

2 – INVOLVED A FORKLIFT RUNNING INTO OR OVER PEOPLE ON THE DOCK.

2 – INVOLVED FORKLIFTS SLAMMING INTO PILLARS ON THE DOCK CREATING STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

2 OF OUR EMPLOYEES HAD TO BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL

Please take a moment to watch the videos that Jennifer attached to this email.

Discuss what the cause of the accidents were. How could they have been prevented?

This employee had BOTH feet run over by a forklift.

Thankfully this time they were not broken.

Looks painful huh! It is, and he is still recovering.

OSHA statistics indicate that there are roughly 85 forklift fatalities and 34,900

serious injuries each year.

DO YOU SEE THE TM STANDING BEHIND THIS BOX?

Follow these precautions

 Keep your forks at the lowest safe height.

Raise them up slightly if you come to bumps or

seams in the floor. On a smooth, indoor floor, keep

the forks about two to four inches off the floor.

 Do not raise or lower the forks while driving. This

causes the center of gravity to shift unpredictably.

 On ramps and inclines, keep the load on the

uphill side of the forklift. Try to travel straight up

and down grades, ramps, and inclines. The forklift

could tip if you turn on a slope.

 If a load is so tall that you can’t see over it, try to

split the load and carry it on two separate pallets,

on two separate trips.

 If you can’t split a tall load, either drive in

reverse, or use a spotter. Make sure you

understand the hand signals the spotter will

use.

 TRAVEL IN REVERSE IF YOUR LOAD BLOCKS YOUR VISION.

TEAM,

THE ROOT CAUSE OF EACH OF THESE FORKLIFT ACCIDENTS WAS COMPLACENCY, ALONG WITH NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS. ALL COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN AVOIDED.

WE MUST RAISE OUR AWARENESS AND ENSURE THAT WE ALL STAY COMMITTED TO BEING SAFE IN EVERYTHING WE DO!