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Forklifts are highly productive machines designed to travel fast, maneuver in confined spaces, and to raise, lower and carry loads. The same design characteristics that make the forklift a highly efficient material handler also makes it very vulnerable to upset and other dangerous hazards.
While forklifts are necessary tools for people who operate them and those who work around them, they cause many deaths and serious injury because they are prone to:
- collide with other forklifts, people or objects
- back into people or objects
- being misused as an elevated work platform
- tip over on their side, especially when they are narrow-isle forklifts
- have objects fall from the forks due to poorly palletized materials or loose objects on shelving.
Accidents caused by forklifts are predictable and can be prevented by a safer design and the installation of available safeguards. These simple design changes and procedures can make forklifts safer:
- Falling object protection system (FOPS) should be constructed with four posts to protect the operator in the event something were to fall on the forklift
- Rollover protection systems (ROPS) prevents the operator from being ejected and crushed if the lift truck turns over
- Seat Belts
- Grab handles to brace oneself if the forklift starts to tip
- Improved seats with an armrest, body and shoulder extensions to prevent sliding sideways or to hinder ejection if the lift truck starts to tip
- Backrest extensions for the forklift to prevent loads from tipping over top of the extended mass
- Automatic signal alarms to warn pedestrians that forklift truck is in the area
- Rearview mirrors
- Forklift trucks should never be used as elevated work platforms, raising or lowering people
Contact the Experienced Philadelphia Products Liability Attorneys at Galfand Berger
Our Philadelphia personal injury law firm is experienced in representing victims of serious injury or death due to the unsafe forklifts. We are happy to answer any questions and review your case for free. Please call us at 1-800-222-USWA (8792) or complete our short contact form and a member of our firm will contact you.
With offices in Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and Reading, we serve clients throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And, remember, there is no fee unless we recover for you.