Forklifts and Foot Traffic: Why Pedestrian Safety Training is Critical in Warehouses

As an employer, you have a legal obligation to keep all of your employees safe in your workplace. OSHA’s General Duty Clause requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

This means as an employer you are required to conduct any required training mandated by OSHA, such as forklift training, as one example. That training requires a classroom, such as watching a video, then the trainees have to drive the different styles of forklifts in your work area.

Thompson and Johnson conducts various types of forklift training for many of our customers, either operator training, where we come in and train your operators only, or our most popular class, Train the Trainer. This allows you as a company to conduct your own training instead of hiring out every time this type of training is required, which saves you money.

When I conduct a training class, I always bring up pedestrian safety training.  Pedestrians are involved in about 40% of all forklift accidents, that is a very high number. There are many reasons for this, but one is – we have told pedestrians most of their lives that they have the right of way in the everyday world!  Well, you may have the right of way, but you could also be “dead right”.

But for some reason, what a pedestrian does crossing the street is much different than when they are crossing a warehouse floor that has forklifts driving by, instead of cars. When a pedestrian crosses the street, the words from their mother are ringing in their ears, “Look before you cross the road”. Yet it all changes when they walk the warehouse floor, they don’t treat the aisleways as the roadways. There are no assigned walking areas or crosswalks. Pedestrians tend to step out into the aisleways at any time right into the path of a forklift.

Many things are to blame, but primarily the pedestrian is distracted, they either have paperwork in hand or worse, their cell phone and all attention is focused on that. Teaching the pedestrians how to interact with forklifts can go a long way to cutting down on accidents.

So, let’s list some training tips:

1. Watch where you are going.
2. Forklifts cannot stop on a dime.
3. Forklifts have many blind spots; you are not always seen.
4. Forklifts steer from the rear, they have wide tail swings.
5. Alert a forklift operator if you are going to be sharing the work place.

Then teach your forklift operators that they should:

1. Blow the horn at all blind spots or intersections.
2. Anticipate pedestrians at office, cafeteria or lavatory doorways.
3. Slow down, it decreases your stopping distance.
4. Use a spotter when you can’t see going forward or driving in reverse.

So, the next time you do forklift training at your company, please consider training your pedestrians at the same time.

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When it comes to forklift operations, safety and skill are key. With over 68,000 industrial truck accidents occurring annually, OSHA requires that only certified operators use this equipment. At Thompson and Johnson, we make it easy for New York businesses to meet OSHA’s safety standards and ensure each operator is fully trained for efficient, accident-free operation. Click here for more information on the advantages of professional forklift training, important notes for employers and individuals, our forklift training program options, and informative training FAQ’s. For a quote or to schedule a class, call us at (800) 589-5558 or email our team at training@thompsonandjohnson.com. Let’s build a safer, more productive workplace together!