To be able to operate any kind of forklift, specific OSHA requirements need to be met. Some companies provide basic awareness training to other individuals like visitors and office employees or sales people and other non-operators who might venture into the warehouse or yard. Though OSHA doesn't particularly deal with lift truck pedestrian training, the OSHA General Duty Clause dictates that employers have to take measures in order to protect employees from some risks, such as pedestrians exposed to lift trucks in motion.
Pedestrian safety is a huge issue which needs to be dealt with and not ignored. Based on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health or NIOSH; approximately 20% of all forklift accidents comprise a pedestrian being struck by a forklift. This statistic translates to around 19,000 individuals each year.
In order to keep everybody safe, there are several basic steps that should be taken into consideration. This is regardless to how frequently or briefly individuals are around industrial trucks in their work day. Amongst the main factors is that forklift pedestrian mishaps normally happen in cases where the pedestrian is ignorant of safety measures. Issues also occur more often when the pedestrian has become used to frequent interaction with forklifts and ends up complacent.
In order to avoid putting yourself at potential risk of being struck by a lift truck, there are some common situations to look out for. Among the most common issues is when pedestrians did not see the forklift. Many operations have various degrees of intersections or blind corners which pedestrians should know. At times pedestrians do not hear the forklift. Be very careful of the different kinds of power sources. Like for example, electric trucks could be a lot quieter compared to internal combustion engines that are really loud.
The other main problems are when pedestrians come in too near the equipment. Common sense tells us that in order for a pedestrian to be injured by a forklift, the pedestrian has to be near to be struck. For a lift truck which is working, a four foot safety zone is recommended so as to make a safe perimeter for everybody. This helps to deal with risks like the model driving accidentally over a pedestrian's foot.
To make certain that the workplace safety remains paramount and stays top notch, following and the implementation of strict safety protocol is key.