• OSHA and ASME/ITSDF Regulations and Fines For Non-Compliance
• Liabilities
• Injury or Death to Employees and Co-Workers
• Loss Of Valuable Resources
• High Insurance Costs
• High Maintenance Costs

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that all companies provide their forklift and other lift truck operators with proper safety training. Since 1999, when this mandate came into being, OSHA has made a point of fining companies for willful violations of this rule and all other safety violations pertaining to mechanical lift trucks.

These fines will cost your company between $7,000 and $70,000 PER WILLFUL VIOLATION and can be imposed any time an OSHA compliance officer sees that a safety issue presents a threat to your employees. In order for companies to protect themselves from these fines and citations, they must provide thorough and adequate safety training to anyone who operates this equipment, no matter how infrequently they operate.

• Companies must provide both classroom training and hands-on equipment evaluations
• Classes taught simply by video or CD-ROM are no longer adequate
• The person(s) training must have sufficient experience, knowledge and training to teach the operators
• Experienced forklift operators without instructor training are inadequate to complete this task
• Training must be site- and equipment-specific, meaning that operators must be tested on the actual equipment they will use in the actual environment in which they will use it
• Companies must insure that all personnel who operate the equipment, even if only rarely, receive safety training
• Operators must be re-evaluated every 36 months, regardless of tenure
• Refresher training must be provided in the case of near-miss situations or observed unsafe operation
• Training sessions, exams and evaluations must be thoroughly documented
• Training must cover 100% of the OSHA regulations pertaining to forklifts and mechanical lift trucks

We strongly urge you to read the entire set of OSHA regulations before choosing a safety training company. Industrial Truck Safety's Forklift Operator Safety Program and Forklift Safety Instruction and Presentation Program were both designed with 100% OSHA compliance as an absolute minimum standard.

In addition to OSHA, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) also set forth its required standard for American businesses in the area of forklift operation and safety. In 2005, management and further development of that standard was turned over to the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation (ITSDF), but the focus and basic structure have remained the same. It is known as Standard B56.1. Some of the broader points of this standard are:

• Only trained and authorized persons shall be permitted to operate a powered industrial truck
• Operators must be selected based on physical qualifications (visual, auditory and mental ability)
• The operator safety training program should be specific to the company's policies, operating conditions and equipment
• The operator training program should NOT be condensed for those claiming previous experience
• Content of the program should emphasize safety of stock, equipment, operators and other personnel, and should explain the reasons behind the rules.
• The training program should cover equipment functions as well, including operating limits, capacity plate, center of gravity, stability, etc.
• The training program should include written (or oral) exams and hands-on performance evaluations
• periodic evaluation and refresher training (which may be condensed) is required

If someone in your company had a forklift accident today, how would it affect your company?

In addition to the various other problems caused by such an accident (which are discussed below), your company would be at a serious risk of a huge financial loss due to liabilities. When an accident occurs all of these are probably outcomes of such an unfortunate situation:

• Settlements
• Court costs and attorneys fees
• Medical bills
• Disability payments
• Funeral costs
• Punitive damages

When weighing the cost of training against the costs of liability that could have been avoided with well-trained operators and a healthy safety program, the return on investment is staggering!

When one considers that an estimated 70% (according to OSHA) of all workplace accidents could be avoided with proper training and safety procedures, it simply makes no sense to avoid the required training and invite disaster.

Aside from the financial implications of accidents, there is the far more important human element of such an occurence. Small accidents with industrial equipment usually result in at least a loss of work and injury. More serious accidents result in permanent disability, serious injury, and in frequent cases, death.

Here are some interesting statistics regarding forklift accidents:

• Approximately every 3 days, someone in the united states is killed in a forklift-related accident
• Each year, an additional 94,750 injuries related to forklift accidents are reported
• One in Six of all workplace fatalities in this country are forklift-related
• According to OSHA, approximately 70% of all accidents reported could have been avoided with proper safety training and policy

Protecting employees and their families from becoming another of these statistics is a company's first responsibility. Arming employees with proper safety training is the single most effective tool any company has at its disposal against such events.

Accidents also have the capacity to destroy tangible assets valuable to your company. Damage to expensive industrial equipment such as forklifts may only be the tip of the iceberg; damage to the merchandise being transported, buildings and facilities, other vehicles, shelves, electrical systems, propane systems and loading can be costly, wasteful, and dangerous to future operations.

Some forklift accidents have been known to cause losses of hundred of thousands and even millions of dollars. Others, such as collision damage to ramps and shelves frequently cause serious accidents months and even years after the initial incident.

The best way to protect these assets is to make sure an accident never occurs in the first place!

The penalty for a company that does not promote a safe work environment can be insurance rates that are 300%-400% above normal or cancellation altogether!

Conversely, the reward for those companies that DO promote safety through the use of organized, well-documented training programs is lower insurance rates.

To satisfy your insurance company's requirements, your business should have a solid safety training program, a cohesive plan for ongoing safety review and compliance, and very thorough documentation to be able to prove its proactiveness.

Maintenance costs are usually not associated with safety training because a direct relation between the two is not usually obvious...

...UNTIL the training is implemented!

Many of our clients see their maintenance costs on forklift equipment drop drastically - in some cases as much as 90% - following implementation of the Forklift Operator Safety Program! The reason, quite simply, is that careful operators are not misusing equipment and causing undue and premature wear and tear on the machinery.

If your company is spending thousands of dollars replacing forklift parts and service each month, you may be surprised at how much of that money can be saved if the equipment is used correctly. Ongoing attention to safety procedures, taught during our Forklift Safety Instruction and Presentation Program, will cause those numbers to stay low and will pay for the cost of training many times over.