Comply with OSHA-1910.178(l)(6)
Did you know that in the United States, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires employers and employees to record powered industrial truck (forklift) operator training and evaluation activities? The records are collectively called "certification". OSHA requires employers at 29 CFR 1910.178(l)(6), et al. to certify that operators are trained and evaluated according to the rule stated at 29 CFR1910.178 (l)
Many employers and operators are not clear on precisely what OSHA Certification means. To add to the confusion, dozens of websites offer operator "certification cards" or "paper certificates" if an operator simply takes an online, web-based tutorial. Some of these sites are very appealing, and some offer employers a generic evaluation checklist to achieve the practical evaluation-in-the-workplace part of the regulation. The cost is within everyone's ability to pay. Costs typically range from Zero to approximately 125 dollars per operator. These websites ensure that naive operators are OSHA-certified and will more likely qualify for a job once they have completed their training. Some employers, wanting to believe they are doing the right thing, are setting themselves and their operators up for possible tragedy.
An example: 32-year-old Nola Olson worked in North Dakota. She received her forklift certification card four months earlier from the dealership trainer after being hired to work for a grocery store chain unloading trailers with a motorized hand truck. She and her five classmates were "certified" by the trainer to operate several classes of equipment listed on the reverse side of her certification card. At the end of the training session, the trainer asked the participants if they had experience operating each class of forklift listed. None of the participants ever left the living room of the mobile home in which they received the training. Nola, called "Noly" by her family, used her card to get a job at her new employer, a small shop that assembled new farm equipment. I wish I could say this story had a happy ending. It did not.
About four months after she was hired, "Noly" died as she was crushed under the 5-ton+ forklift she was driving only seconds earlier. It tipped over when, during a sharp turn, a rear wheel rolled into a gravel surface impression washed out by heavy rain just one day earlier. Within six months, the business was bankrupted; eight employees were out of work, and there were several defendants named in a wrongful death lawsuit. By the time the trial ended, the trainer's employer had settled. For those who think employee wrongful death cases net victims millions of dollars, the elderly parents, who Noly supported with her $8.00 per hour job, were left with enough money to buy an average-priced new car (2001). Nola Olson's parents, now in their 80s, who adopted her as an infant, lost the lawsuit to the remaining defendants in the lawsuit.
If her employer had kept records of operator training and evaluation, it might have signaled them to take action to train her on the actual truck she was operating. Not only would her life possibly have been saved, but they would have also complied with OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178(l)(6).
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Comply with OSHA-1910.178(l)(6)