Forklifts are a common sight at most workplaces, both indoors and outdoors. Forklifts are a necessary piece of machinery at your manufacturing facility, warehouse, jobsite or company yard site, but their mere presence poses a risk to workers and pedestrians due to the fact they are a moving machine. It is critical that Forklift operators are properly trained and certified to ensure the safety of pedestrian traffic and other vehicle traffic at your workplace.
The prevention of forklift accidents is critical to ensure employee safety and wellbeing. This includes ensuring that not only Forklift operators are trained on Forklift procedure at your workplace, but also that all other employees associated with forklift operations are trained and aware of what is and what is not allowed in and around the Forklift.
I recently heard about a scary incident at a workplace where a new employee was assisting their forklift operator with receipt of a delivery and thought he could help by hopping on the back of the forklift! He had no personal protection on whatsoever and could have easily slipped off the back of the forklift or been thrown off and could have sustained serious injury. Thankfully, a couple of other employees saw him do this and yelled at him to get off. He listened and jumped off quickly avoiding any injury. As we know, accidents can happen in an instance when an employee does something they are not supposed to do without thinking.
Some of the top rules of forklift operation are:
Forklifts should only be operated in designated areas; Operate forklifts at a speed that allows for safe stops; an operator should not change direction suddenly and should consider all surface conditions; and Forklifts are for carrying loads only, and should never carry people.
Forklift Safety Signage is an effective tool to increase forklift safety awareness by providing constant visual reminders in your workplace of forklift safety procedures and warnings. Forklift warning signs help prevent accidents by warning workers and pedestrians of moving forklifts and forklift traffic areas. Forklift safety signs can be posted on the walls in the Forklift operating areas; adhered directly to the Forklift machines in the form of self-adhesive decals; and installed on chain link fences or posts in your yard or on your jobsite. The versatility of signage options allows for forklift safety messages to be prominent in all the places you need your forklift warnings and procedures to be visible to forklift operators, employees, visitors and contractors.
Avoiding a workplace accident and preventing employee injury at the workplace is top priority. It is fortunate that new employee did not incur a workplace injury that day and the incident prompted improvements to the company’s communication and training of forklift safe operating procedures to forklift operators and staff.
We design and manufacture Forklift Safety signage in a variety of materials for both indoor and outdoor applications, and will work with you to customize your signs to your company branding and to meet your specific safety message.
Please visit our website to view Forklift Safety Signs.
Please contact us directly to discuss your forklift safety signage requests to
matt@westernsafetysign.com Matt Zelich, Operations Manager.