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Emergency Preparedness for Forklift Accidents: Protocols and Procedures
Even though the intralogistics sector follows governmental and company safety rules and regulations, forklift accidents can still occur. Besides doing everything your company can to prevent forklift-related collisions, it’s critical to be prepared for emergencies by having established protocols and procedures for responding to accidents and managing your forklift fleet. In this article, we’ll review important safety tips to improve emergency preparedness so that your company can respond to accidents quickly and efficiently.
From forklift training and forklift-certified operational tips to helpful emergency preparedness protocols and procedures, we’ll review components of a successful strategy for handling forklift accidents. Let’s start with what forklift training includes and how forklift-certified drivers can help with responding to forklift-related accidents.
Forklift Training and Forklift Certified Response Procedures
Importance of Forklift Training
Of course, it’s important to prevent accidents and collisions. These accidents can be injurious and even deadly, and they can halt warehouse operations. Forklift training and certification are required in order to operate forklifts and similar vehicles. OSHA requirements state that companies create and enact a training curriculum and that drivers be certified for vehicle operation. This ensures that companies outline the precautions necessary to keep the workplace safe and that drivers are prepared to operate their vehicles. Forklift training may also include what to do in the event of an accident. Preparing forklift drivers can improve response times and minimize damage to the persons, materials, and vehicles involved.
Forklift Certified Drivers and Accident Response
While forklift training might focus on how to properly operate the vehicle and safety procedures for operations, companies should also implement protocols that forklift-certified drivers can follow after an accident. Driving operations, general safety, and driving around pedestrians are all important components that are usually included in the training, but forklift-certified drivers need preparation in order to respond to collisions. Having a safety assistance system in place can help forklift operators respond to a collision. Implementing technology that allows the drivers to record the accident and the condition of the vehicle immediately after the accident can simplify the rest of the response. At ELOKON, our ELOfleet fleet management system not only provides pre-operational daily vehicle and driver checklists, but it also provides workforces the capability to update vehicle conditions following a forklift accident. Even when no accident occurs, drivers can note maintenance that might be required in order to avoid an accident in the future.
Training and technology are critical components of warehouse and intralogistics safety. Knowing how to operate a forklift safely prevents vehicle-related accidents and keeps the overall workforce safe. Let’s explore what this means in terms of implementing safety and assistance systems.
How to Operate a Forklift Safely with Safety Systems
Knowing how to operate a forklift safely with safety systems in place can increase both workplace safety and operator confidence. During training, operators will go through a practical evaluation that includes completing certain safety checks. This evaluation can include confirming if the operator completed the pre-operational inspection or checklist and how the operator maintained situational awareness of pedestrians, other forklifts, and structural components of the warehouse. Once the driver becomes certified, the driver still has to complete these safety checks in order to properly operate their vehicle. Implementing safety and assurance systems can assist a driver’s vehicle operation. This technology improves the company’s overall emergency preparedness as it safeguards the working environment as a whole.
ELOKON Safety and Assistance Systems
ELOKON safety and assistance systems simplify and streamline emergency preparedness protocols and procedures by providing ways to detect, record, and prevent forklift accidents. Because our safety solutions are effective at detecting forklift-related collisions before they happen and allow teams to update fleet statuses, we advise that your team include ELOKON in your emergency preparedness protocols and procedures. Knowing about all the safety features our solutions offer and having a plan can optimize your team’s emergency preparedness. Next, let’s review some emergency preparedness tips using ELOKON solutions. How to operate a forklift safely is simpler with ELOKON safety solutions.
Emergency Preparedness Tips with ELOKON Solutions
In order to minimize forklift-related accidents, here are a couple of emergency preparedness tips with ELOKON solutions to make achieving warehouse safety easier.
Respond to Maintenance Issues Quickly
To begin, it’s much easier to fix maintenance issues before they cause accidents than to deal with the aftermath of forklift-related accidents. Our ELOfleet fleet management system makes it easy to record necessary maintenance and manage maintenance schedules. ELOfleet also provides pre-operational checklists that allow operators to find any malfunctions or issues. This lowers the chances of a vehicle malfunction that can result in an accident.
Secure the Accident Area
In the event of an accident, your team must secure the area and keep workers in the area safe. Our ELOfleet solution can notify management of the incident, slow the vehicle down to creep speed, lock out the vehicle, and/or require a safety inspection. Securing the accident area prevents further injuries from occurring.
Address Gaps in Safety
Lastly, we recommend addressing gaps in safety after the incident. Reassessing what went wrong or what gaps in warehouse safety led to the accident can prevent future incidents. Implementing safety and assistance systems like our ELOprotect anti-collision system can prevent future incidents by detecting and alerting pedestrians and forklift operators of potential accidents. Our ELOassist VNA driver warning system alerts drivers of other vehicles and objects in very narrow aisles to prevent collisions. Implementing the right technology can very well prevent catastrophic accidents in warehouse working environments, and ELOKON makes addressing gaps in safety simple.
Prevent Forklift Accidents with ELOKON
At ELOKON, our goal is to prevent accidents and help protect your workforce! Why wait until a collision occurs to improve safety? At ELOKON, we’ve simplified pedestrian and forklift safety and assistance systems to make intralogistics environments safer than ever. Contact us today to find out which of our safety solutions can benefit your warehouse and protect your workforce from forklift-related accidents.