Caterpillar Releases New Video to Promote Forklift Safety

As one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of industrial equipment, it’s safe to say that Caterpillar knows a little bit about forklift safety.

So when a company like Cat releases a new video outlining the most basic concepts of forklift safety, many people with the industry sit up and take notice.

In this week’s Video of the Week, we take a look at the newest safety video produced by  Caterpillar’s European division, “A Simple Guide to Lift Truck Mistakes”:

Top Five Forklift Safety Rules

While forklifts are complicated pieces of equipment and every workplace has its own unique safety challenges, most forklift safety can be broken down into five basic concepts, according to Cat:

1. Ensure that workers at every level receive regular safety training.
2. Register with the local health and safety government agency to receive regular bulletins on new rules and safety guidelines — and make sure your business in in compliance.
3. Conduct regular risk assessments and make sure your business’s safety handbooks are easy to read and understand for all workers. Then review these safety guidelines regularly, especially after an accident or infraction.
4. Reinforce risk assessments and encourage workers to keep records, acknowledge documentation, and ask for help if they don’t understand something.
5. Monitor staff to ensure that they are compliance with safe working practices at all times.

It’s also important that workers feel comfortable asking questions and raising concerns about safety issues. And when they do, management not only needs to pay attention, but also acknowledge these concerns in writing and report back to workers with a response and action plan promptly.