Forklift Near Misses
Over the past several weeks we’ve seen several near misses involved around forklifts in the facility. Let’s look at a couple:
An employee was standing by a machine at the end of an aisle talking with two other employees. A forklift driver was coming up the main aisle towards the group and honked their horn three times as he saw the group. The driver moved slowly as it didn’t appear that at least one of the individuals was aware of his approach. Just prior to arriving in the area, one of the employees turned and stepped out into the aisle without looking. The forklift driver slammed on their brakes and avoided the collision which certainly would have caused an injury.
As pedestrians it is our responsibility to be aware of our surrounds. It is easy to get involved in conversations or busy working, but the minute you hit the aisle and traffic area, you must take a moment, stop, and look.
We recently also had an instance where a hydraulic line to a forklift broke spraying oil on the floor. Before they could get all the oil wiped up an employee slipped in some of the oil catching himself before losing balance. Could a more thorough pre-shift forklift inspection have caught the issue with the hydraulic line? It’s truly hard to say, but we need to ensure we wipe up such spills just as fast as we can and warn others in the area about the hazard.
