Forklift Rodeos Promote Workplace Safety

Rodeos have been a part of rural life in America for more than 150 years. Cowboys, cattlemen, and other competitors test their skills against each other in a spectacle of fun, wholesome family entertainment.

Forklift rodeos may lack the same kind of star appeal, but they are still entertaining. Plus, they are team-building, morale-boosting, and can even help promote workplace safety.

So should you organize a forklift rodeo in your workplace? It’s worth consideration.

What Are Forklift Rodeos?

Unlike real rodeos, there are no bulls or bucking broncos involved in a forklift rodeo. Instead, forklift operators test their skills in performing everyday tasks like lifting and moving pallets within a specified time limit. But they also can include things like navigating an obstacle course, using the vehicle’s forks to perform challenging tasks like picking up a basketball and placing it in a laundry basket, and bowling.

Yes, bowling. In this challenge, drivers use the lift truck to pick up a bowling ball that is resting on a pallet. Then, without letting it fall off, they manipulate their vehicle to a lane where ten bowling pins have been set up. The driver then needs to carefully tip the forks down so that the bowling ball rolls off the pallet and towards the pins. The driver who knocks down the most pins wins that round of the forklift rodeo.

While there are organized forklift rodeos that pit teams from one business against another, you don’t need to join a regional or national competition for your business to benefit. Instead, you can host your own forklift rodeo right in your workplace and reap all the benefits of competition and team building.

Competition Is Fun

Odds are your employees may already be competing against each other to see who can get everyday tasks done the quickest or who can move the most pallets during a shift. A forklift rodeo simply codifies this inherent tendency toward workplace competition into an event that is fun and educational for everybody.

Forklift rodeos are one of those rare workplace activities that bring people together in a friendly social setting. They can be held within the workplace, such as in an outdoor parking lot or in an area that has been cleared off on the warehouse floor after hours.

Many companies, including Old Dominion transport, already have learned the benefits of using forklift rodeos to hone driver skills and promote workplace safety. Is your business next?