Why industrial vehicle warning devices are so important
You've just had an injury accident at your facility involving a forklift. A life devastating injury that puts a worker out of commission for months and puts a family in financial and medical stress for who knows how long. The losses to that family are immeasurable - only time will tell what the real cost is.
What about the cost to you, the employer? Every time a forklift or other industrial vehicle at your facility causes injury, there is a domino effect that costs your company, too.
Consider these losses:
- Reduction in product created
- Loss of workhours for that employee (more product lost)
- Worker's Comp claims
- Facility or equipment damages
- OSHA investigates incident; fines may be issued
- Administrative costs of filing claims and reports (more production lost)
Now consider these facts:
- Although forklifts cause only 1% of factory accidents, 10% of all factory injuries come from that 1%
- Close to 100 people are killed annually by industrial vehicles in the factory or warehouse (most fatalities are from forklifts)
- Approximately 20,000 injuries a year are caused by forklifts alone
The real costs compared to the cost of installing warning devices:
(just for handling the incident, what if the plant has to shut down?)
That's the cost of just one injury incident each time there is an industrial vehicle accident at your factory or warehouse. Think of how many warning devices that could buy...
Think you can afford to do without effective warning devices in your facility? You can't.
* Bureau of Worker's Compensation of Ohio
**National Safety Council, "Estimating the Cost of Unintentional Injuries, 2002"