Forklift seatbelts priority

WORKSAFE inspectors will visit 500 workplaces around Victoria to encourage the use and installation of seatbelts on the state’s 85,000 forklifts.
Director of WorkSafe’s Manufacturing Logistics and Agriculture Program Trevor Martin said of the 54 people killed in Victorian forkliftrelated fatalities since 1985, nine were operators who were crushed when they fell or jumped from the machine.
“Tipovers are the secondhighest cause of forkliftrelated deaths,” he said.
“They are also responsible for a high number of serious, and permanent, workplace injuries.
“If a tipover happens when a seatbelt is used the operator stays with the forklift rather than under it.
“That’s why seatbelts are important.
“They’re fitted as standard to modern forklifts.
“Older ones often have the capacity to have them fitted. If they can be fitted, they should be. “
The campaign runs until June, and will result in the inspection of thousands of forklifts.
“Expect to be inspected. Make sure your forklift is safe,” Mr Martin said.
“WorkSafe inspectors will be looking at not just the presence of seatbelts, but whether or not they are in good condition and able to perform their job.
“If they can’t be fitted for some reason, other means of managing the risks associated with a tipover should be put in place.
“Like a lot of safety gear, seatbelts might not be needed often, but when they are they’d better work.
“Forklifts collide, lose loads and they tip.
“It may take a bump, a turn taken too fast, an unseen beam or a pedestrian, and when things start going wrong it’s too late to take corrective action,” Mr Martin said.
WorkSafe has a range of guidance material about forklift safety including Forklift Safety: Reducing the Risk – Forklift Instability, which was released in June.
Guidance material is available by calling WorkSafe publications on 9641 1333 or on the Internet at www.worksafe.vic.gov.au
WorkSafe’s advisory service can be contacted on 1800 136 089.