Resources for National Forklift Safety Day
June 14th is a time to reflect on your forklift/pedestrian safety practices
Every year National Forklift Safety Day is recognized in June, providing a spotlight on the valuable resources for any safety program. With educational sessions, opportunities to connect with like-minded safety managers, and programs available to check out and apply, any facility wanting to upgrade its forklift/pedestrian programs can find something valuable.
This year is even more special, as the program celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Spanning two days, multiple guest speakers will present guided solutions and overviews on how to protect what matters most in your facility.
Forklift Safety: A top priority every year
The safety automation team at Cisco-Eagle specializes in offering innovative solutions for forklift safety, ensuring the protection of both pedestrians and forklifts from expensive collisions. As a testament to our unwavering commitment to safety, we regularly publish numerous articles that provide valuable insights into enhancing the safety of your daily forklift operations. Here are a selection of the latest forklift safety posts from the past year:
Forklift-Pedestrian safety in shipping docks
Shipping docks are beyond busy and a workhorse area for every operation. With a chaotic assortment of pedestrians and equipment moving in and out, there are many areas within a dock that should be identified and reviewed to protect all.
In this post, we highlight “danger points”, including forklifts exiting trailers, being aware of the trucks coming and going, noise and visual obstructions for workers to not only be aware of but also avoid, and the ever increasing visitors wandering in a loading dock area.
Each one of these unique areas of a shipping dock presents a challenge to improve safety for your workers. With that in mind, we presented various solutions for increasing safety in your dock.
- Installing forklift warning lights – A relatively low-cost and effective first line of defense for sure! There is a range of warning light options available, all of which are cost-effective, efficient, and simple to install. These lights catch the attention of pedestrians as they move across the ground, appearing just moments before a forklift begins reversing. This provides a distinct visual signal that indicates the presence of a vehicle emerging from the truck.
- Adding proximity warnings and/or sensors – A good ‘ol sensor works with the theory that loud noises and visual warnings can help keep a worker’s attention to areas of danger. An extension of this technology is the tag-based proximity sensor, in which pedestrians wear tags that utilize flashing lights and vibrating alerts to notify drivers when the tag enters a designated zone.
- Creating barriers – Gaps between doors, forklift blind spots when leaving a truck trailer and other areas on the dock are especially dangerous for pedestrians to linger in or move around. While proper training (as always) is a must, protecting your workers from themselves by adding barriers where possible could also make a difference.
Shoptalk break!
Our ShopTalk series offers several videos discussing ways to improve forklift/pedestrian safety. Take a break and watch employee-owner Missy review the various forklift warning lights options for any facility.
Workstation areas and forklift safety
Areas in a facility that contain work cells or workstations are filled with focused employees. Whether picking, assembling or working on an administrative task that relates to the operation on the floor, these tasks lead to minds that might not be aware of the trucks moving around them. This can lead to the type of pedestrian/forklift interaction that you definitely don’t want!
Just like with dock safety, you for sure want your forklift drivers and those workstation workers to be aware of each other. Providing guidelines and training can be a baseline in keeping them safe, but there are also other solutions to include as well.
By installing items like guard rails around workstation areas or in-plant offices, you can reduce the possibility of collision. Adding guard rail around corners and ends of aisles is another simple-ish solution that yields quality protection for work cells that are close to traffic areas. Upgrading to a safety system with gates, like the AisleCop safety gate system, is yet another idea that not only alerts and protects but provides peace of mind as well.
Like any preventative measure, the best solution is the one your operation actually adds to aid in the defense of your assets. That’s why a day like National Forklift Safety Day exists, to help you consider all, but implement what you feel you need and will benefit from.
Download Our Forklift Accessories Guide
Whether it’s increasing safety or finding new ways to make your forklift fleet more productive, we have the equipment and attachments you need. Our forklift accessories guide highlights everything from safety sensors and lights to efficient ways of separating and controlling forklift traffic.
Download the guide today
Evan Fleishacker