Gaining the Acceptance of a Forklift Safety System with the Operators

Forklift safety system training is a critical part of implementing an automated forklift checklist, impact detection and even a forklift pedestrian detection system. But before you can get to the end result…acceptance, you need to gain the agreement of the forklift operators or they will either figure out a way not to use it or simply figure out a way to break it. So how do you get them to try it and continue to use it? Let’s explore what one of our customers did.

What is Forklift Safety System Training?

Forklift safety system training is the final step in the implementation process prior to usage of a solution. However, in order for forklift safety system training to be successful, a process needs to be set up in order for training to be fully rolled out successfully. What are the steps in the implementation process?

Announcing the Product Internally

Just ‘telling’ the forklift operators what’s going to happen can create ‘push back’ or resistance from the team. It’s always best to include them in the process so they understand it’s not about ‘big brother’ watching them, or the forklift operators thinking that they are doing a poor job, its about their safety, getting to the truth of the incident which can clear them of wrongdoing and its about helping to keep the company protected with OSHA compliance.

How to Announce It

To begin, get some signage made. Let them know when there will be a team meeting coming up. Share a bit about statistics of injuries and deaths and the importance the company places on the health of their forklift operators and workers. That’s it. Let that part of it be for the next 3 weeks or so.

Forklift Safety System Company Meeting

The day of the company meeting is critical. This is your time to announce that a forklift safety system is coming into the facility for them to trail for the next 2 weeks. Tell them about the S2 Digital Inspection key features such as forklift access control, OSHA compliance digital checklist, and impact detection. Explain to the forklift operators what each of these things mean and how it benefits each one of the operators, workers and the company as a whole.

Forklift Safety System Trial

There are times when a trial is necessary, and times that it is not. Now the trial in our industry means that you purchase 1-2 units and implement the solution. It’s not free, as the supply chain hardships continue to plague companies that you cannot expect everything for free for as long as you’d like to trial. The trial equipment you receive are brand new units so you can experience what it is to take it out of the box, install it and begin using the solution.

Begin Using the Forklift Safety System

This is where the fun begins. Be sure the forklift operators know what to expect. What does it mean if a forklift fails. It’s not a bad thing. Have them understand that near misses lead to bigger accidents if not caught right away. Show them that the randomizing of questions and answers are to help from it getting too boring and skipping questions or just filling it in. But most importantly, show them the type of information that is being gathered in the telemetry Dashboard.

Telemetry Dashboard

Now that a system has been in use for the past couple of weeks, and you’ve been regularly communicating and gaining their feedback along the way, it’s time to show them the results in the telemetry Dashboard. Show them the results from:

• Failed inspection on the forklifts
• What does catching the failures early mean to efficiencies, rental costs, manufacturer investment, downtime and more
• How many people tried to access the forklift without training or permission
• How many people were protected with that feature
• How many near misses, low, medium and high impacts and what was saved as a result

What’s Next?

Now that they’ve been a part of the process, make them a part of the solution. This is exactly what our customer created as a process to onboard their forklift drivers. It’s a usable, repeatable process that you can also use within your facility. 

Give us a call to get started with your trial of the S2 at sales@siera.ai today.