Why You Should Never Drive a Broken Forklift

Most forklifts are engineered to provide hundreds of hours of service without any breakdowns and with minimal maintenance. But thanks to the laws of physics, even the toughest forklifts eventually will suffer wear and tear over time.

Anything that has moving parts is prone to break down. And forklifts have plenty of them. Yet given the busy and demanding environments of businesses like warehouses, docks, and other enterprises that typically use forklifts, there’s often a willingness to ignore minor problems with forklifts and just keep working.

This is a mistake. And here’s why.

Forklift Design and Engineering 101

Like cars, trucks, and any other type of complicated machine, a forklift is actually a system of interconnected parts. When problems develop on one part, by nature of its design there are going to be consequences for the other parts of the system.

For example, let’s say something relatively minor happens, such as one of your forklift’s tires losing a little pressure. This is a problem that could easily be identified during your pre-shift inspection and quickly repaired by simply adding air to the tire in question.

However, some forklift operators may choose not to repair the problem so they could get back into service faster. After all, you can still drive the forklift even though one tire is a little low on air. Or the driver may simply miss it altogether because they didn’t perform their pre-shift inspection.

What Happens Next

Driving a forklift with one low tire affects many other parts of the machine. It could cause tire rims to wear more quickly and unevenly. It could put pressure on one part of the chassis more than the others, causing the vehicle to favor one side over the other and affecting its stability triangle. If the forklift is driven on an incline, it could even cause a tip-over accident, resulting in damaged property or an injury to the driver or another worker.

In other words, the driver’s small failure to do the right thing — take the forklift out of service until the proper repairs could be made — may have bigger, unanticipated consequences.

Don’t ignore minor problems with forklifts just because they seem minor and inconsequential. Conduct pre- and post-shift inspections and be vigilant about correcting issues immediately, rather than trying to work through them to improve productivity.

Your forklift will last longer and your business will ultimately be more productive if you play by the rules: Treat your forklift right.