Problem Solving Article: Driver forklift safety
Industrial Safety Topic - Continuous improvement kaizen for forklift safety. 

An Article from the Series of Problem Solving Articles in an Industrial Setting

Accidental damage from collisions by the forklifts with company structures and equipment at the olive cannery where I worked was becoming very costly. Safety meetings and disciplinary notices somewhat alleviated the problems, but did not stop them.

Permanent solutions were required. The drivers were not being particularly careless. The points where the forklifts picked up a load from a conveyor or palletizer were very vulnerable.

Damage to these points resulted in downtime and emergency repairs. Reports were filled out and warning notices given.

I looked into the situation and found that the forklift stop rails at the equipment locations were inadequate or missing. This would be the first area to implement changes.

I measured the clearance distance from the floor to the bottom of the hydraulic lifting masts of the hard-tired, electric forklifts in use at our plants. The bottom frame of the masts was 2 1/2 inches from the floor.

I picked up a piece of 4" X 4" X 3/8" angle iron that was four feet long. The angle iron was placed in front of the forklift front wheels. The mast frame would impact the angle iron with 1 1/2" to spare.

I had another piece exactly the same cut and welded back to back to the first piece. That made a piece with a 3/4" center sticking up and two 4" X 3/8" flat pieces for drilling and fastening to the concrete floor.

Three holes were drilled in ech side of the welded angle iron pieces for a total of 6 holes. The holes were layed out on the floor at a conveyor pickup point and then drilled for the bolt anchors. 

The Red-Head anchors were installed in the holes in the concrete. The angle iron stop was then bolted to the floor.

The lead mechanic brought over a forklift to test the stop piece. First he put the fork lift mast against the stop and then tried to accelerate forward. The forklift did not move.

Next I asked the mechanic to pull several feet back and get a running start towards the stop. He hit the stop hard enough to raise the back wheels of the forklift slightly off the ground. The angle iron stop did not move, the anchor bolts were still tight, and the metal of the angle iron was barely dented.

I visited every pickup point in both plants for measurements and quantity of angle iron, hardened-steel bolts, and threaded, Red-Head concrete anchors needed for the jobs. The maintenance mechanics would cut the angle iron and weld the pieces together. Our General Contractor, Tony Mendes, and his crew would install the forklift stops at the appropriate points.

The forklifts were also running into stationary objects such as roof support beams and edges of doorways. I consulted with the Contractor, Tony, to check whether he had a concrete coring drill.

The contractor had a powerful Dewalt 3/4" drill and a concrete coring drill bit capable of drilling a hole large enough for installing a four inch piece of Schedule 80 black pipe. The pipe would be primered and painted Safety Yellow with red stripes prior to installation.

Each doorway edge would have one pipe installed for a total of four pipes per doorway, two on one side and two on the other side. Each roof support beam with a history of being damaged would have at least two pipes.

This was a considerable amount of work. The pipe would have to be cut and a rounded cover welded to the end and then painted before installation. Some of the pipes would be filled with concrete after installation and the rounded cover would not be installed. Most of the pipes would be concreted into the hole and some would be left removable.

At one area of the plant, the empty metal retort baskets were stored while not in use. There was no backstop between the baskets and the metal inner wall of the building.

The forklift drivers would deposit an empty basket in the area and leave, After awhile of this, the forklift drivers would start shoving the baskets towards the wall when they brought another empty basket in.

With 20 or 30 large metal baskets on wheels, the forklift drivers would sometimes push them too far and the baskets would impact the relatively thin sheet metal wall and bend or tear it. This situation was costly and unacceptable.

I got the Contractor to install a fence with four inch pipe filled with concrete and each post braced to the floor with 4" angle iron. The fence had two 4" angle iron rails welded from post to post.

Once we had the fence completed, there was no more damage to the wall. The forklift stops installed at all pickup points completely eliminated forklift damage to the equipment.

This was a huge savings by eliminating the equipment repair costs, downtime time costs, and freeing up maintenance man-hours for more productive work. The same was true for the forklift structural damage.

These types of repetitive maintenance repairs are the repairs that a maintenance department must concentrate on eliminating, where possible. The repairs must be evaluated for payback time.

Do the cost savings realized from elimination of downtime, repairs, material, and man-hours exceed the cost of the repairs? The savings should be calculated for a payback in a time frame of approximately 1 1/2 to 2 years, after that, you're making money. 

The lesser the time, the better. A payback time frame exceeding two years should be approved by higher management before implementation. 

The payback time for the stops and guides was calculated to be paid for in under two months. From then on, the money previously spent for these repairs, downtime, etc. went straight to our plant's bottom line.

Necessary plant maintenance costs are a part of the cost of doing business. Repetitive maintenance costs that can be economically eliminated or reduced must be carried out in order for the plant to remain in business. Your competitor is always looking for methods to improve his business at your expense.

Feel free to copy this article in it's entirety as long as you include the credits below. Thank you for spreading the knowledge.

Author: Larry Bush 
Profile: Electrician in industrial, construction, marine, and food industries for 47 years, with 22 of those years in management.
URL: http://www.reliability-consultant.com