OSHA Requirements: Maintaining Your Forklift

Forklifts are great tools that can help get your work done. However, they do require care to prevent injuries and to reduce unexpected costs. If your company can arrange a maintenance plan before there is a problem, it will save costs and protect employee safety.

OSHA, or the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, has set out guidelines for companies using forklifts to protect worker safety. But what are the requirements from OSHA for maintaining a forklift and what should companies be doing to plan ahead with maintenance?

Schedule Maintenance Dates

It’s a great idea to schedule routine maintenance checks to help prevent problems. This ensures the forklift will remain in good condition. If your forklift doesn’t have scheduled check-ups, it may end up malfunctioning or causing accidents. Make sure your forklift is functioning properly to prevent serious risk to your employees.

Spend Money on Quality Parts

While it seems like an easy way to keep costs down, using mediocre parts on your company’s forklift is actually a bad idea. Investing in quality parts is a solid plan for preventing injuries and serious accidents.

Choosing better parts means less maintenance required over the life of the forklift. Don’t use the time when you choose forklift parts as the time to spend less money.

PM Inspection Reports

PM Inspection Reports are preventative maintenance inspection sheets, which help show if forklifts are being inspected correctly. They check the following:

• Brakes
• Wheels
• Lights
• Wiring
• Kingpin
• Body damage
• Door seals
• Floor damage
• Fire extinguishers
• Oil level
• Loose or missing nuts, bolts, etc.
• Batteries
• Gear pump noise

 

By having a preventative maintenance inspection done and reviewing it, you can make sure your forklift is being inspected properly. If the inspection shows something will need replacing soon, be sure to have that scheduled in advance of any malfunctions.

Maintaining Equipment

Save your company money by properly maintaining equipment regularly, instead of waiting for an expensive problem to come up. It will cost you less to get things in good shape, before something breaks down and costs thousands of dollars to repair.

Good preventative maintenance includes:

• Keeping tires newer since worn or damaged tires will use up more forklift fuel
• Keeping wheels properly greased
• Keeping parts lubricated
• Keeping old and hydraulic lines clean to avoid sediments in the fluid to make your system fail

OSHA requires these preventative maintenance measures to be done. If preventative maintenance isn’t achieved, issues may arise and cause fines and injuries. Keep your forklifts in working order and avoid having to fork over a lot of money if problems come about.

For more information on used forklifts, contact Forklift Nation today at (888) 329-5438.