Unfortunately, what you are about to read is an account of an incident that resulted in the tragic death of an employee (husband and father) while he was at work on a construction site. However this isn’t a retelling of the all-too-common incident in which a worker fell from a roof because he failed to wear fall protection. No… this incident happened on ground level, and involved a task that employees had never performed before.
On the morning of this incident, two coworkers (Jerry and Clark) were moving supplies around the jobsite. Clark was in charge of operating the forklift and Jerry was helping him on the ground. The jobsite was muddy and the forklift that Clark was driving got stuck in a mud hole.
Jerry was quick to respond. He hopped on a different forklift, positioned the two forklifts back-to-back, and connected a chain between them. In no time at all, Jerry had Clark’s forklift pulled out of the mud. Jerry set parking brake, hopped off of his forklift and began removing the chain. Tragically, the parking brake failed and Jerry’s forklift rolled backwards, crushing him between the two.
A later investigation revealed that the parking brake on Jerry’s forklift was indeed set. However it was faulty. When OSHA investigated the incident, they found that it was not a standard practice for employees of that company to conduct daily inspections of forklift before they were used.
DISCUSSION NOTES:
Do you and your fellow employees conduct daily inspections of your forklift(s)?
Rented equipment still needs to be inspected and is required by law. Do you conduct daily safety inspections of forklifts that rented?
Do you know what to inspect on a forklift? If not, an inspection form is available from through your workers’ compensation safety consultant (if your company is a member of the CRSMC Self Insurer’s Fund).
Have all of the employees who operate a forklift received training certified by their employer.
Note that Forklift safety training is available through your workers’ compensation provider (if your company is a member of the CRSMC Self Insurer’s Fund).
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