New OSHA National Emphasis Program - Warehouse Safety
Warehouse safety is a rapidly changing and fast paced environment that has health and safety hazards at every turn. Many warehouses are faced with hazards such as forklifts, fires, battery chargers, loading docks, worker falls and chemical handling. Moving goods around a warehouse and loading and unloading trucks and trailers doesn’t just involve industrial trucks regulations, but also includes chemical handling and storage, ventilation, PPE, loading dock safety and fire safety.
While storage rack systems, battery charging areas, loading docks, etc. all play a role in warehouse safety, this article will focus on forklift operations. OSHA feels strongly on this matter due to some alarming statistics - between 35,000 and 62,000 injuries every year involve forklifts. And it is not just the operators, some cases involved bystanders or pedestrians. OSHA estimates that over 70% of these accidents were preventable.
Doug Parker, Assistant Secretary of Labor and head of OSHA, announced that the agency will be launching a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) this summer to focus on high injury rates in warehouses. This announcement was made at a recent National Forklift Safety Day event. Parker stated that the NEP will focus on all aspects of the operation, including powered industrial trucks. He went on to state that people “should be aware that those enforcement efforts are forthcoming, and it’s imperative that people get ready now through their training and other methods.”
Forklifts and other material handling devices can’t just be removed from the workplace. They are essential to the modern economy and industry. Since their invention in the early 1900s, they have radically altered how business is conducted. Forklifts allow the transport of materials that might not be possible with cranes. The trucks derive their name from the fork-like prongs that slide under heavy cargo and pick them up. Moving heavy objects from one location to another has never been simpler.
Forklifts carry the weight for us on construction sites, in warehouses, and in dockyards. Most forklifts have load capacities between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds, although some are capable of transporting up to 35,000-pound cargo. The use of forklifts eliminates the requirement for backbreaking labor. It also implies increased efficiency and time savings for businesses. The safety of those who operate forklifts or labor around them is of the utmost importance whenever heavy machinery is involved.
The use of forklifts and other industrial trucks exists in every state throughout the US. While there is data on units produced, sold, and imported is readily available, an analysis of the economic contribution that industrial truck manufacturing makes to the US economy and individual states has not previously been undertaken. To identify the full picture, the Industrial Truck Association commissioned Oxford Economics to conduct research, analysis, and impact modeling to clearly quantify the economic contribution of industrial truck manufacturing and its support services in the US. This report highlights the importance of the industry to the US economy in terms of jobs, wages, tax revenue, and GDP. The report from the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) and Oxford Economics offers detailed data at national and state levels. Click here to view the full report.
If you have any forklift-related questions, contact us for assistance.