Lift truck industry celebrates National Forklift Safety Day 2024 with special offers and events
Here are just a few of the ways forklift manufacturers and dealers will be helping fleet managers and operators observe this year’s National Forklift Safety Day.
The main event for National Forklift Safety Day 2024 will be a conference featuring presentations by OSHA, forklift manufacturers, and industrial safety experts, hosted by the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) on June 11 in Washington, D.C. The two-hour program, which begins at 9 a.m. Eastern, is free and open to all, but advance registration is required. Can’t be there in person? You can attend virtually! Click here to register for the livestream.
In addition to the Washington program, lift truck manufacturers, dealers, and providers of associated products and services will offer training classes, webinars, and other information resources to help customers keep forklift safety top of mind. The following are just a few examples:
Yale Lift Truck Technologies is recognizing National Forklift Safety Day by offering two FREE webinars focusing on lift truck safety:
On June 12 at 3 p.m. Eastern, Yale’s live webinar will walk attendees through considerations for establishing a culture of safety. Safety and technology experts will share unique tips for training new staff, explain best practices for developing accountability, and demonstrate award-winning operator assistance technology. Click here for more information and to register.
DC Velocity readers can access a special National Forklift Safety Day webinar, in which a representative from North Carolina’s Occupational Safety & Health division discusses the OSHA national emphasis program for warehouse safety. Gain a stronger understanding of the federal and state-level emphasis programs being adopted and adapted across the country, and learn how you can identify threats without risk of a citation. Click here to access the FREE program on demand.
On June 24 at 3 p.m. Eastern, Hyster Company’s Hyster Move Ahead Mondays will offer a live webinar titled “What can your operation do to build a strong foundation for safety?” The webinar will feature an environmental health and safety (EHS) manager and a training expert who will walk attendees through the most important aspects for evaluating safety in facilities. They’ll also share guidance to help operations deliver engaging, OSHA-compliant training. Click here for more information and to register.
The Raymond Corporation is saluting the thousands of forklift operators around the globe who keep our supply chain running smoothly. With a focus on reinforcing operator best practices and training, Raymond is celebrating National Forklift Safety Day by offering a $20 discount on the e-learning version of the Safety On The Move® Operator Training Program. The discount will be available for the month of June. “The immersive training that operators receive with this program helps entire facilities find and secure a unique rhythm. The training minimizes inefficiencies, ensures a secure operation, and increases productivity,” said Michael Field, president and CEO, The Raymond Corporation. Find out more about how Raymond is helping facilities find their groove by visiting the company’s National Forklift Safety Day webpage, featuring operator-training and operator-assist tools.
In recognition of the 11th Annual National Forklift Safety Day, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas is participating in several safety-focused activities:
Logisnext executives will attend the 11th Annual Industrial Truck Association (ITA) National Forklift Safety Day event in Washington, D.C., where industry experts will share great insights on safety practices.
On June 11 and 12, employees across Logisnext’s three campuses will come together for a day of safety-focused activities, proudly wearing their commemorative t-shirts as a symbol of their commitment to safety.
The Logisnext dealer network was equipped with forklift safety resources and tools to help promote the “Together We Lift – Together We Stay Safe” campaign among dealership customers during the month of June.
In recognition of the Industrial Truck Association’s (ITA) 11th annual National Forklift Safety Day, Toyota Material Handling is sharing educational resources on innovative technology and forklift safety best practices with dealers and forklift operators. ITA chair Brett Wood, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America, and this year’s National Forklift Safety Day chair, Cesar Jimenez, Toyota’s vice president of regulatory affairs, product planning, and product assurance, will play key roles in ITA’s June 11 event in Washington, D.C. In addition, Toyota Material Handling is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its System of Active Stability™ (SAS), which revolutionized the material handling industry by reducing the likelihood of forklift tip over.
RJW Logistics Group, a logistics solutions provider (LSP) for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, has received a “strategic investment” from Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire partners, and now plans to drive future innovations and expand its geographic reach, the Woodridge, Illinois-based company said Tuesday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the company said that CEO Kevin Williamson and other members of RJW management will continue to be “significant investors” in the company, while private equity firm Mason Wells, which invested in RJW in 2019, will maintain a minority investment position.
RJW is an asset-based transportation, logistics, and warehousing provider, operating more than 7.3 million square feet of consolidation warehouse space in the transportation hubs of Chicago and Dallas and employing 1,900 people. RJW says it partners with over 850 CPG brands and delivers to more than 180 retailers nationwide. According to the company, its retail logistics solutions save cost, improve visibility, and achieve industry-leading On-Time, In-Full (OTIF) performance. Those improvements drive increased in-stock rates and sales, benefiting both CPG brands and their retailer partners, the firm says.
"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."
A report from the company released today offers predictions and strategies for the upcoming year, organized into six major predictions in GEP’s “Outlook 2025: Procurement & Supply Chain” report.
Advanced AI agents will play a key role in demand forecasting, risk monitoring, and supply chain optimization, shifting procurement's mandate from tactical to strategic. Companies should invest in the technology now to to streamline processes and enhance decision-making.
Expanded value metrics will drive decisions, as success will be measured by resilience, sustainability, and compliance… not just cost efficiency. Companies should communicate value beyond cost savings to stakeholders, and develop new KPIs.
Increasing regulatory demands will necessitate heightened supply chain transparency and accountability. So companies should strengthen supplier audits, adopt ESG tracking tools, and integrate compliance into strategic procurement decisions.
Widening tariffs and trade restrictions will force companies to reassess total cost of ownership (TCO) metrics to include geopolitical and environmental risks, as nearshoring and friendshoring attempt to balance resilience with cost.
Rising energy costs and regulatory demands will accelerate the shift to sustainable operations, pushing companies to invest in renewable energy and redesign supply chains to align with ESG commitments.
New tariffs could drive prices higher, just as inflation has come under control and interest rates are returning to near-zero levels. That means companies must continue to secure cost savings as their primary responsibility.
Freight transportation sector analysts with US Bank say they expect change on the horizon in that market for 2025, due to possible tariffs imposed by a new White House administration, the return of East and Gulf coast port strikes, and expanding freight fraud.
“All three of these merit scrutiny, and that is our promise as we roll into the new year,” the company said in a statement today.
First, US Bank said a new administration will occupy the White House and will control the House and Senate for the first time since 2016. With an announced mandate on tariffs, taxes and trade from his electoral victory, President-Elect Trump’s anticipated actions are almost certain to impact the supply chain, the bank said.
Second, a strike by longshoreman at East Coast and Gulf ports was suspended in October, but the can was only kicked until mid-January. Shipper alarm bells are already ringing, and with peak season in full swing, the West coast ports are roaring, having absorbed containers bound for the East. However, that status may not be sustainable in the event of a prolonged strike in January, US Bank said.
And third, analyst are tracking the proliferation of freight fraud, and its reverberations across the supply chain. No longer the realm of petty criminals, freight fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, and the financial toll of their activities in the loss of goods, and data, is expected to be in the billions, the bank estimates.
The move delivers on its August announcement of a fleet renewal plan that will allow the company to proceed on its path to decarbonization, according to a statement from Anda Cristescu, Head of Chartering & Newbuilding at Maersk.
The first vessels will be delivered in 2028, and the last delivery will take place in 2030, enabling a total capacity to haul 300,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) using lower emissions fuel. The new vessels will be built in sizes from 9,000 to 17,000 TEU each, allowing them to fill various roles and functions within the company’s future network.
In the meantime, the company will also proceed with its plan to charter a range of methanol and liquified gas dual-fuel vessels totaling 500,000 TEU capacity, replacing existing capacity. Maersk has now finalized these charter contracts across several tonnage providers, the company said.
The shipyards now contracted to build the vessels are: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and New Times Shipbuilding—both in China—and Hanwha Ocean in South Korea.
Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.
“Evolving tariffs and trade policies are one of a number of complex issues requiring organizations to build more resilience into their supply chains through compliance, technology and strategic planning,” Jackson Wood, Director, Industry Strategy at Descartes, said in a release. “With the potential for the incoming U.S. administration to impose new and additional tariffs on a wide variety of goods and countries of origin, U.S. importers may need to significantly re-engineer their sourcing strategies to mitigate potentially higher costs.”