Improper Forklift Maintenance Can Lead to Accidents, Downtime and More
Improper forklift maintenance can lead to accidents, downtime and loss of productivity. Even though some might believe that forklift maintenance is too costly and inconvenient, completing forklift inspections along with a thorough maintenance plan can go a long way. Let’s take a deeper look into what happens with improper forklift maintenance and how a forklift safety system can help.
Implications of Improper Forklift Maintenance?
Improper forklift maintenance can have a financial impact. This impact can be far greater than implementing a proper forklift maintenance plan. Some ways costs are incurred are as follows:
- Frequent Expensive Repairs: If the forklift isn’t properly maintained, frequent repairs are the result. No great mystery here.
- Increase Downtime: We reply on the maintenance department to keep the forklifts in good working order. If not, the forklift is taken out of circulation. Not all of us have spare forklifts in the event one or more forklifts are taken out due to breaking down.
OSHA Fines: This one usually gets everyone moving. If the forklift isn’t properly maintained, the OSHA auditor will take a closer look at the forklift inspection reports. Pulling out binders of information may not help the situation as the inspector will quickly figure out if pencil whipping is involved. If so, now the situation just got uglier and will cost the company in unnecessary fines.
How Can this be Solved?
By going digital, improper forklift maintenance can be better managed. SIERA.AI’s forklift safety system has the ability to digitize the forklift inspection process. This is critical as it will manage the details of the forklift inspection, giving you insights into the health of the forklifts. Now maintenance can streamline their efforts to ensure they are working on the right things in order to keep production at peak performance.
Digital Forklift Inspection
When this is part of the forklift safety system, such as SIERA.AI’s, the forklift safety system will not allow the forklift to start if the forklift inspection is not done. Here’s the trackability process:
- The forklift operation needs to use his badge or enter a PIN number. The system will automatically track if they are certified and up to date on their certification.
- Once they enter the system, the forklift questions will appear. Management can turn on or off the randomization. Meaning, the questions AND answers can appear in a random order ensuring the operator reads each question and answer. If it fails, notification is sent to 1, 2 or 100 people letting them know of the failed forklift inspection.
- Let’s say the forklift passed. The forklift operator must put on their seat belt in order for the forklift to start. This is an option you have to maintain OSHA compliance.
What Happens to the Answers?
All answers to the forklift inspection get automatically calculated in the telemetry Dashboard. There isn’t anything more that needs to be done. Now maintenance and management can go in and inspect the information by forklift, worksite, however you need and in a custom timeframe. This will give the information necessary to determine when the forklift needs to be maintained.
Overall
Take the time to invest in a forklift safety system to keep your forklift running at peak performance. An improper forklift maintenance will only cost your company more money in the end. Contact us today at sales@siera.ai or call us at (512) 817 0702.
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