Forklift Truck Pre-Shift Inspections: Meeting the OSHA Standard

Forklift Truck Inspections: What’s Required & How Do I Meet the Standard?

Making certain forklifts are inspected by the operator each shift isn’t just best practice, it’s mandatory. But what’s required and are you doing everything you can to make sure those inspections happen every time?

The OSHA Requirement

The underpinning OSHA requirement comes for the 1910 standard:

“1910.178(q)(7)

Industrial trucks shall be examined before being placed in service, and shall not be placed in service if the examination shows any condition adversely affecting the safety of the vehicle. Such examination shall be made at least daily. Where industrial trucks are used on a round-the-clock basis, they shall be examined after each shift. Defects when found shall be immediately reported and corrected.”

Source: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.178#1910.178(q)(7)

Some more information from OSHA on what needs to be inspected is here: https://bit.ly/36XxHJZ

Making Sure the Inspections Happen

This is the real challenge. Often supervisors are too busy to stop every operator and look for the inspection if its on a sheet of paper. If it’s done using a digital device, running a report on forklift inspections is often not top of their list of priorities. With that said, most safety leaders have done a great job in creating an environment where their supervisors want to keep people safe. And operators want to stay out of trouble and go home to their families after a safe and successful day at work.. So how can this be solved?

How do you meet this challenge? An idea is to make it visible therefore engaging operators in doing the check and making it easy for supervisors to manage, This can be achieved with SG World USA’s solution here.

For more help and to trial America’s Best Forklift Inspection Checklist Solution reach out to office@sgworldusa.com

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