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fork lift truck is a pivotal piece of machinery to many businesses and industries and the running of these companies will come to a halt if their fork lift cannot be used. Although a fork lift is a very useful machine they are also very dangerous and need to be treated with a lot of respect and care. 10% of all accidents in a work place which uses a forktruck involves the
fork lift in some form or another either directly or indirectly. A fork lift is a very heavy and powerful machine and so when an accident does occur with one it can cause some serious injury and sometimes it can even be fatal. This is why it is absolutely imperative that safety precautions are put into place to avoid accidents and injury with a fork lift truck.
The most common accidents when it comes to a fork lift is hitting or running over another person while the fork lift is motion, goods not being stable on the truck and falling on to another person, the fork lift turning over due to uneven and unsafe floors, and the fork lift being overloaded causing it to capsize. Training fork lift operators and employees of these main pitfalls will eliminate certain accidents from occurring in the future but there are other preventions to consider as well. For example it is a common practice for employers to limit the speed of the fork lift so that the operator cannot surpass a certain speed. The faster a vehicle is going in an accident the more severe the outcome and so if the truck is only going at a slow pace even if an accident does occur the result will be less than if the truck was travelling twice or three times as fast. Limiting the velocity of the fork lift will also increase the chances of the accident never occurring. The operator will have time to stop the machine before impact and because the fork truck was travelling slowly the machine will stop faster. There are many other ways to avoid
fork lift accidents in the work place they just need putting into place.