Forklift Fatality

[Bird]

This story in our newspaper today isn't about a tractor, but is a forklift that turned over and the driver tried to jump off, which is the same mistake some have made on tractors:

Forklift fatality under investigation | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Local News

 

[JDgreen227]

This story in our newspaper today isn't about a tractor, but is a forklift that turned over and the driver tried to jump off, which is the same mistake some have made on tractors:

Forklift fatality under investigation | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Local News

Bird, I drove forklifts for twenty years, and have a hard time understanding how a forklift could overturn that way...the story makes it sound like the operator had no load on the forks when the lift truck overturned...and every one I have driven had such limited ground clearance that getting any wheel, either steering or stationary, in a pothole would do little except high center the machine.

Yet, it's a very sad story, more so when you consider the exemplary safety record the plant had before this.

 

[Baby Grand]

I drove a Hyster out of an open box car door. Take it from me - once they get one wheel in the air they are very tippy.

 

[flyerdan]

Yes, forks really don't like anything other than smooth and level very much. Mine is older and has the pneumatic tires all around so it does a bit better on gravel and lawn which is where I use it.
<------ The picture was taken when it was stuck in the lawn, at 9200 pounds it doesn't like the soft surfaces either. Pretty much a summer toy, and I'm always aware of how inherently tippy these things are, even on a good day.

 

[The Haymaker]

All forklifts have different stability characteristics. I've driven some you need to work to try and tip, even with a load. The Hyster 40s we use on our dock can be tipped just by turning the wheel too quick.

Simply fastening his belt would have saved this mans life. We had a dock worker a few years ago nearly kill himself. He was working the dock alone and had unseated, leaned forward to read a label on a pallet, and somehow maned to end up with his head in the mast. Nearly decapitated himself. someone in the office realized he was no longer working and went to check on him. No idea how long he had been pinned. He wasn't expected to live, but has, and will be a quadriplegic for the rest of his life.

 

[JDgreen227]

Yes, forks really don't like anything other than smooth and level very much. Mine is older and has the pneumatic tires all around so it does a bit better on gravel and lawn which is where I use it.
<------ The picture was taken when it was stuck in the lawn, at 9200 pounds it doesn't like the soft surfaces either. Pretty much a summer toy, and I'm always aware of how inherently tippy these things are, even on a good day.

Want to tell us just what you use a forklift for at home? I have never thought of them as being suitable for any homeowner application, only for commercial use. I guess you could actually use them at home as a form of cheapo hydraulic lift....

 

[RDrancher]

I got a call to look at repairing a parking / loading area for a Dallas trucking company last night. The call was directly related to this accident. The client said that the potholes have been an annoyance for a long time, but now they're worried about the safety of their forklift operators.

I just got back from looking at the repair. One of the potholes measured 16'x16' and was 8-10 inches deep!

 

[Willl]

Very sad.

I believe a seat belt would of saved a life in this instance.

 

[flyerdan]

There are lots of things they come in handy for around the house; having a hole in the fork tip lets you use a trailer ball or hook for moving trailers and lifting things out of the pickup. They're good for pulling unwanted saplings from where the squirrels have forgotten where they stashed their winter swag, and of course the mobile scaffolding applications. It was a surplus one at work and was going to auction, had some mechanical issues and I was able to buy it cheap. Might not be up to the rigors of daily use but it's more than adequate for my needs. And yes, the neighbors do think that I'm a bit odd.

 

[Mace Canute]

Several years ago now, a man who worked at one of our power generating stations was killed in exactly the same fashion. Beetle-ing along with a smaller forklift meant for use on a hard flat surface, preferably indoors, and dropped a wheel into a pothole. It was enough to cause it to go over past the point of no return and since he also wasn`t wearing a seatbelt, he fell out and ended up with his head between the FOPS and the ground. Killed instantly.

You might think a forklift meant for outdoor useage would be immune to potholes, and they are...until Murphy happens along. Again, several years ago now, at the RR yards here in Sutherland, the operator of the seacan lift (looked similar to this one)

was in the yard carrying a 40 foot container and was about to stack it on top three or four others.. He dropped a wheel into a pothole that he had to drive through in order to position the seacan properly and laid the unit on it`s side.

The seacan was loaded asymmetrically so most of the weight was at one end, the end on the same side the pothole was, and the sideways rocking was just enough to put it over. Impossible for the operator to know about and he was being slow and careful but physics and Murphy did it to him.

Did a lot of damage to the unit too, bent the mast out of shape so much it couldn`t be used. They had to resort to trying to use two cranes to pick up the seacans and move them that way. You can imagine how well that worked! They had to bring in a spare unit from Regina...a 160 mile trip and severly overweight for the roads at that time of year (the RR needed to really suck up to Dept of Highways to get a permit to move it) and it was also a High Load Move for the power corporation, which is where I was involved with it.

The operators had been complaining about the potholes and telling management that they needed to be fixed, but as is the case with most management, they `knew better`and did nothing about it...until it was proven that it was indeed a hazard. A costly hazard at that.

 

[300UGUY]

One guy I worked with had his foot run over by a forklift. He lost the foot, squished flatter than a pancake.

 

[DanD78]

Where I work no one drives a fork lift with out training and a hands on test. This must be maintained every two years. We have all sizes from 4X4 off road to hard tired warehouse lifts. Our folks take our safety program very serious so in my 22 years I can only think of two accidents. There are probably 40 machines in our plant .

Training the general public would be tough. Every farmer I know in my area has a fork lift for handling seed, chemical totes or what ever else needs moved. Wearing your seat belt and driving slow are key safety items.

My self and a lot of others have forks on our tractors. These can be almost as dangrous with heavy loads and not enough weight on the rear.

DanD.

 

[JDgreen227]

"Training the general public would be tough..." DO TELL. People who drive cars are supposed to get a test every four years for a new driver's license, and despite all the safety features built into new cars, our nation still had nearly 33,000 traffic fatilities in 2010. One can only imagine how much higher the toll would have been without safer cars and advancements in treating accident victims...

 

[Bird]

People who drive cars are supposed to get a test every four years for a new driver's license

Are you serious? Other than a vision test, I don't think I ever heard of anyone being re-tested after getting a license unless there was some specific reason. In other words, it's never been routinely done to everyone.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I rolled a Cat/towmotor over on 3 a 3 inch drop off one time. I bought one at an auction and was loading some other items. There was a hole in the concrete floor in the plant and it had been filled part way with gravel and had a plate set on top of it. On my trip back a scrapper stole the plate. I couldnt see it well just my olde tracks in the dust. I rolled over in it at 2 mph. I have a little 1500 pound clark lift that really old . It has an after market rops on it. Its a tiny narrowthing and one evening a friend and I were unloading materials for a new boat dock we wer prefabbing and the tractor trailer couldnt deliver o nthis road. He stayed on the main road and we un loaded and drove 200 yards back to the shop. My friend was on the 50 hysterI also own. About that time the drag link on my clark snapped and dumped over on the side. It happened that the seat is just a flat bench and no belt and offset. it was set to the opposite side of the fall. I kinda stood up and was out on the upperside of it.

In 1999 my college sop teacher told me that a friend of mine the Diesel mechanics teacher was redoing a lift truck one time loading it it fell off the trailer and he jumped. the counter weight landed on his foot and crushed it. He fought the doctors to keep his foot.

 

[me0418840987]

My Komatsu FG20 does fairly well on my gravel driveway, but likes to stay on the concrete shed floor even more. I use it for more than you would think, bought it in 99, and have put over 900 hours on it. My brother and freinds were working on their truck a couple years back, and drinking quite a bit, as usual. Ran his foot over, he had steel toe boots on. we had to cut his foot out of the boot, luckally, it didn't totally collapse, but was smushed enough, that he couldn't slide his foot out.

 

[creekbend]

Are you serious? Other than a vision test, I don't think I ever heard of anyone being re-tested after getting a license unless there was some specific reason. In other words, it's never been routinely done to everyone.

In several States, you can renew your Driver's license by mail.

 

[Bird]

In several States, you can renew your Driver's license by mail.

My wife & I each renewed our drivers licenses online the last time. I think in Texas you can do that once, then next time you have to go in person to read the eye chart. So you can do it online every other renewal.

 

[JDgreen227]

Are you serious? Other than a vision test, I don't think I ever heard of anyone being re-tested after getting a license unless there was some specific reason. In other words, it's never been routinely done to everyone.

True, I was thinking of my CDL renewal tests and after going thru all those over a 24 year period I just assumed operators also had to take a written test and I was obviously wrong. But perhaps it would be a good idea to test every driver once in a while. I recently authored an opinion in our local paper about the incompetence of the majority of today's drivers, and 100% of the comments made on it were favorable.

 

[Bird]

True, I was thinking of my CDL renewal tests and after going thru all those over a 24 year period I just assumed operators also had to take a written test and I was obviously wrong. But perhaps it would be a good idea to test every driver once in a while. I recently authored an opinion in our local paper about the incompetence of the majority of today's drivers, and 100% of the comments made on it were favorable.

Yep, I'll agree with you that refresher courses and re-testing would do a great deal to improve driver competence and traffic safety. The biggest problem I see is the huge number of licensed drivers would mean a very expensive program to hire enough testers.

From what I've seen in the news, Texas DPS offices are already swamped with drivers license applicants and renewal applicants; long lines, long waits, etc.