Safety by Design
By Martin Boyd, National Product Planning Manager at Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc.
Lift truck safety is vital in the industrial workplace and a key concern for all companies operating materials handling equipment. Improving lift truck safety relies on a number of different factors. One of the most important factors is a comprehensive driver training program, which, according to occupational health and safety agencies must be implemented by every company that is operating a lift truck. A driver’s thorough understanding of the physics and principles behind the equipment and its operation is the first step in limiting accidents in the workplace.
The Human Factor
For operators, proper safety training is the most important step to ensure they understand how to properly operate a lift truck and how to handle materials. It is crucial to make operators aware of a lift truck’s capabilities and limitations. It also is vital to ensure drivers are fully aware of their surroundings and what people around them are, and are not seeing, hearing and thinking as they walk through a warehouse or factory.
Equipment maintenance also is an important element of safety. Manufacturers and dealers need to work with their customers to communicate the essentials and benefits of maintaining their equipment at top operating performance. A daily operational inspection may save customers maintenance costs in the long-run, increasing their productivity, and more importantly – improve the safety of their operators and equipment.
Proper lift truck pre-inspections that are in accordance to the OSHA standard for powered industrial trucks [29 CFR 1910.178], are not only valuable for creating a safe operating workplace, but also in aiding customers in maximizing the value of their capital investment.
Operators need to refer to the lift truck’s Operator’s Manual for recommendations regarding all items that should be inspected prior to operating the lift truck. An additional resource for sample daily checklists for industrial lift trucks, is available at: http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/ote/trng-materials/pit/daily_pit_checklist.html.
Safety by Design
Effective driver safety training is closely followed by the design of the lift truck itself. Lift truck manufacturers have worked hard to continuously develop new technologies and features which will help reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries. Lift trucks also has been significantly improved through ergonomic design enhancements, as lift truck manufacturers continuously look for ways to minimize operator fatigue and stress. Comfortable drivers significantly improve safety as they are more likely to concentrate on the job at hand. Whereas poorly designed trucks can cause poor posture or repetitive strain, well-designed ergonomics help protect the driver from injuries such as back and neck problems. As a result, features such as adjustable seats that can swivel, seatside hydraulic controls or minilevers, rear assist grips with horn button and tilting steering columns are now commonly available.
Although a thorough operator safety training program is the first line of defense in reducing accidents, technologically advanced designs are taking lift truck safety to the next level. Toyota has worked in partnership with official health and safety bodies to fully understand the reasons why lift truck accidents occur. Following this research, it was determined that the most common cause of lift truck accidents is the lateral overturn or the “tipping” of the truck. Advanced technologies such as Toyota’s exclusive System of Active Stability™ (SAS) and Active Mast ControlTM (AMC) have been introduced to the market in an effort to help limit the likelihood of lift truck tip overs.
SAS, which is standard equipment on all Toyota 4-wheel electric and sit down internal combustion (IC) lift trucks, uses patented technology developed by Toyota to sense mast height, load weight, vehicle speed and yaw rate (or angular acceleration); conditions that play a significant role in the stability of a lift truck. Should the operator mistakenly place the lift truck in an unsafe condition, which may lead to potential lateral overturn, SAS instantly interprets those conditions and locks a hydraulic cylinder on the rear steer axle. This changes the lift truck’s stability footprint from triangular in shape to rectangular, thereby increasing lateral stability and substantially reducing the likelihood of a lateral overturn.
The AMC function works to limit the forward tilting angle and reduces backward tilting speed of the mast during certain operating conditions. This function not only limits the likelihood of loose product falling from the forks, but also helps reduce the likelihood of a forward tip over condition. In turn, goods are better protected, which ensures less damaged stock and greater profitability.
Making sure trucks are simple and easy to use also is essential in improving comfort, safety, and productivity. Some lift truck manufacturers are now offering an automatic fork leveling feature, which improves productivity and limits pallet damage, by allowing the operator to quickly and easily level the forks with a press of a button.
New safety standards and technology have combined to further limit the risk of accidents in the workplace by cutting powered travel when the operator is not properly seated. Many manufacturers have also implemented systems that also cut hydraulic functioning when the operator is not properly seated.
It is clear that advances in lift truck design have significantly improved safety. Toyota will continue its work to develop leading technologies designed to protect drivers. A fully trained driver coupled with a technologically advanced truck not only ensures high levels of safety but better efficiency and productivity.
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