"Did YOUR Operators or Managers Cause the Last Serious Injury? Will They Cause the Next? Are You Sure?"
If your organization has a history of forklift-related serious injuries or fatalities, answering, and then acting on the above questions, in earnest, can go a long way toward preventing the next tragedy. Asking the right questions, and answering them, is the key to developing both operator safety AND operational speed!
Notice that the above questions do not ask if you are in compliance with OSHA! Why? Because, (let's say it out loud):
"Just because my organization is in compliance with OSHA powered industrial truck (forklift) rules, does NOT mean we will prevent the next forklift-related serious injury."
Are you surprised? I hope not. But, if you are surprised, you have the power to disabuse yourself of the OSHA compliance effectiveness notion. Just ask and answer this question:
"Immediately BEFORE our last serious forklift-related injury, was my organization in compliance with ALL related OSHA rules?"
No matter what the answer, if you act on it in earnest, you can protect yourself from the effects of the next forklift-related serious injury. In other words, in the vast majority of organizations with serious injuries, the FACT that you are in compliance with OSHA, is NOT mutually exclusive of the FACT that you had that serious injury! At some point, even if you are in compliance, the fact of it becomes irrelevant. Sadly, it doesn't bring back the dead, and doesn't undue the pain felt by the injured, their loved ones, coworkers, and managers.
This does NOT mean there are evil people with nefarious intentions influencing the state of industrial safety! It does mean that the fact of continuing forklift-related serious injuries is only going to be resolved in your company if you have the will, intention, and focus to do so.
Is it your will to comply with OSHA? Is it your intention to develop operators who drive safely AND with adequate speed? It's a good place to start. It's in the right questions, smarty! What are YOUR answers? What will you do next?
Best wishes, Gotta go,
Joe