Tackling Forklift Safety with Digital Checklists
Forklift safety with checklists is critical to both the forklift driver and pedestrians walking about the facility. However, each week we report in our weekly newsletter the latest casualty to a forklift accident. Last week in the Detroit news, a woman was crushed when the forklift turned over. If you’d like to be added to our newsletter, contact cherise@siera.ai and we’ll be sure you are included. Back to forklift safety with checklists.
Transition from Paper to Digital Checklists
Too many companies rely on paper checklists. Paper checklists are difficult to manage as the forklift operator doesn’t necessarily complete the paper checklist in full, nor finishes the paper checklist accurately. This is a problem for many companies as OSHA compliance is a very important aspect to their business. So, what can you do to ensure forklift safety with checklists? Here are 5 steps that can help.
- Use the standard forklift safety inspection checklist provided by OSHA, and modify it to reflect your company.
- Decide where the checklist falls short, and be sure to include questions that can help monitor the forklift or even the environment around the forklift.
- Click ‘randomize’ for both the questions and answers to the forklift safety inspection. This will help ensure that the questions are read…and the answers are answered accurately as the forklift driver will need to fully read each question before answering.
- Get notifications if or when a forklift fails an inspection. This is critical if you want to keep track and monitor downtime for any forklift in the fleet.
Track all of the data in the telemetry dashboard so you know the status of any lift truck or forklift driver for any given day and shift.
Benefits of Forklift Safety with Checklists
Digital checklists provide transparency into the effectiveness of forklift safety with checklists. Previously, tasks would be recorded manually on paper, which is close to impossible to analyze at scale. Digital forklift checklists help to realize the benefits of a protective forklift safety strategy.
Benefit #1: Increase Accountability
Paper provides little accountability into forklift inspections for OSHA compliance. However, with a digital checklist, the badge login becomes your timestamp as to the who, when and which asset the forklift operator just accessed. If the person who tried to login on the forklift is not authorized or certified to operate the lift truck, forklift access control will deny access, record the unauthorized individual with a picture and the vehicle will not operate.
Benefit #2: Communicate Expectations
Expectations are communicated during the training process so each forklift driver knows what’s expected when completing the digital forklift inspection checklist. Let them know that this is for their protection and safety.
Benefit #3: Provide Feedback to Forklift Operator
As a safety professional, provide feedback to the forklift operator so the driver knows the condition of the forklift, any unauthorized attempts, as well as near miss, low, medium and high impacts. Help each other understand why its occurring and where so adjustments can be made.
Overall…
Forklift Safety with checklists is the direction for safety professionals. It provides the measurement needed to keep the driver and pedestrians safe, while ensuring the lift trucks are running at peak performance. You can bet that if / when you get audited by OSHA, this is one area you won’t need to worry about. Contact us today at sales@siera.ai