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Building a strong safety culture is imperative to successful operations. Employees throughout the industry know that operating with a safety-first mindset isn’t a once-a-year event, but rather a central focus every single day.

Working with and around heavy machinery on the job, employees in the industry are face-to-face with potential hazards on a daily basis. According to a study conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the top six causes of forklift-related accidents include operator inattention, forklift overturn, unstable loads, operators struck by load, elevated employees, and lack of training.

Fortunately, to combat these, OSHA has several safety guidelines in place for warehouses with regard to forklift operation, maintenance, and training. Beyond adhering to these procedures, forklift operators must also stay up to date on training, remain engaged and proactive, and avoid complacency around heavy equipment.

Forklift safety is important to professionals throughout the industry — and it’s important to us, too. All of us at the Propane Education & Research Council want to be good stewards to propane forklift operators across the country, do our part to help forklift operators keep safety top-of-mind, and help you be steadfast in creating a culture of safety. It’s why we’ve created a variety of free safety resources, tips, and videos. This collection of resources, available on Propane.com/SafetyFirst, aims to help reinforce the importance of forklift safety this National Forklift Safety Day — and all year round.

The resources primarily focus on these eight important forklift safety reminders:

• Ensure the pressure relief valve on propane cylinders is secure and pointing away from the locating pin prior to operation.
• Always wear a seatbelt while operating a forklift.
• Stop the forklift before raising or lowering the forks.
• Maintain a safe distance from the edge of ramps to prevent a dangerous tip-over. When descending a ramp with a loaded forklift, always travel in reverse with the forklift and payload pointed up the grade. When traveling up a ramp with an unloaded forklift, always keep the forks pointed downgrade.
• Slow down and sound the horn when approaching areas where your visibility is blocked.
• Follow safety procedures when finished with a job: Lower the forks and set the controls to neutral.
• Close service valves on cylinders when they’re not in use.
• Properly store cylinders in their secure rack.

We encourage you to take advantage of the resources we have available, schedule routine safety briefings with your crews, make sure operators are up to date on required trainings, and above all else, remain vigilant when it comes to forklift and worker safety.

To access PERC’s new resources, and learn more about forklift safety, visit Propane.com/SafetyFirst.

Jeremy Wishart is director of technical communications for the Propane Education & Research Council. He can be reached at jeremy.wishart@propane.com.

Submitted by the Propane Education & Research Council, www.propane.com