Forklift Safety Tip #5 - Non Approved Attachments
The Simple Oversight 99% Of Companies Are Making Right NOW That Is Guaranteed To Cost Your Company Thousands!
"I Recently Saw A Company Get Slapped With A $170,000 Fine For This Very Thing"
An alarming amount of companies are being fined for what WorkCover refer to as Using Non Approved Attachments. What is an attachment? Basically, anything that goes onto the front of a forklift other than the standard forks is classed as an attachment.
Almost every company with a forklift has an Attachment of some sort tucked away in the corner. Whether it's an old set of slippers, a jib, or worst of all, a safety cage or Work platform (Basically if it's not approved, you're just inviting trouble.)
BIG Trouble! So How do you tell whether it's approved?
Good Question: Legally, all forklifts must have a data plate fitted to them that clearly indicates how much weight they are capable of lifting. These plates are stamped and fitted by the manufacturer and display to the driver the exact amount of weight that can be safely lifted. Any alterations to the machine that would change the amount it can safely lift (such as fitting attachments) will cause the plate to be wrong and the forklift to be illegal.
Each attachments used, MUST be mentioned on the data plate so that the driver knows exactly how much weight that that forklift can carry when each particular attachment is fitted.
To give you an example: If you have one attachment and fifty forklifts, the attachment can only be used on the one that has been approved on the data plate. Although it may fit on all the other forklifts, it can't be used legally.
Operating a forklift with a non approved attachment will not only incur a WorkCover fine, but your insurance will not cover you while it's being used.
But Your Forklift Repairer Wouldn't Of Sold It To You Without
Making Sure It Was All Legal, Right? Wrong!
Unfortunately, even most of the best repairers in the industry simply aren't familiar with the current laws. And at the risk of getting my self in trouble, I'm willing to say that the forklift sales people just don't care. Please don't think that just because you bought or especially rent, your equipment from a large company that you're safe. They're often the worst offenders! The only way to protect your self is to check wether or not they are approved your self, and rectify the problem.
And for those of you that were smart enough to get your attachments
approved for particular forklifts on your site, I have this question…
Do your operators know which machine is the one approved for that particular attachment? Or do they use it on any that will fit? Even the non approved ones?
Special Note For Large Companies: $50,000 Fine Just For Having One Of These On Your Site!
Most large companies who use forklifts have a safety cage or Work Platform somewhere on their site. Simply having one on your premises that isn't specifically approved for any of your forklifts can incur a $50,000 fine.
"I was recently called out to a fabrication company who were caught with three of them on their site. One was their's, and two belonged to a company down the street who were paying them to do some welding and repairs on the cages in question. Can you guess what happened? $50,000 times three!"
Are you absolutely positive that there isn't one on your site?
If you have any question relating to this or any other matter, please feel free to call on
1300 799 112.