Lift Truck Tips: Don’t let culture take a back seat to compliance and costs

Lift truck operator training is an essential part of establishing and maintaining a culture of safety. Too often, however, training and recertification are viewed as simply checklist items to be completed for the sake of compliance. Rob Vetter, director of training at Ives Training Group, says he frequently finds himself in the room with salty veterans motivated only to complete the chore and get back to the real work.

“They are smart enough to show me what I want to see, but after I leave, the supervisor might not know what’s going on or recognize the difference between optimal practices and shortcomings,” Vetter says. “From the top of a company down, they need to be diligent about enforcing and maintaining safety, every hour of every day.”

Having lost a close friend to an industrial accident, Vetter says it’s easy for him to connect to safe practices on a personal level. In an environment where leadership views training from a purely regulatory perspective, or as a means to prevent financial losses, it can be hard to establish the same level of investment.

“Operators don’t care about compliance and costs,” he says. “And, even if a safety committee does, if consistent support doesn’t come from the top down in an organization, an ideal safety culture will not happen.”

In day-to-day operations, the top risk is excessive speed, he says. Especially when carrying a load, speed makes it harder to control a lift truck, requiring faster reaction times and creating greater risk. Often the issue is compounded by another common mistake: failing to keep a clear view out of the operator cabin.

“It astounds me how many people will pick up a load that blocks their vision and then drive forward,” he says. “You would never do it in your car, so why do it in a lift truck? I can’t understand why they think they have the right of way. It’s not difficult to drive in reverse or get a spotter.”

Vetter acknowledges that training requires an investment of time and money, on which customers like to see a return. Aside from minimizing the risk of injury, decreases in equipment and product damage alone can be staggering, he says. For example, one fleet of 12 lift trucks costs its owner $120,000 per year to maintain.

“That seemed like a lot, but the accountant said it was within normal bounds based on a comparison to previous years,” Vetter recalls. “The maintenance invoices included bent hydraulic rods and cracked wheel rims and I thought, this is not maintenance, this is repair. This equipment is being abused.”

Addressing those costs can help a business retain its earnings, impacting the bottom line while reducing the likelihood of injury and product damage.