M4E #9: Occupational Safety - The case of Forklifter Driver Klaus
One of the most important aspects in manufacturing activities is Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). According to the WHO this means to deal “with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards”. In M4E we will dedicate some of our weeks to stress its importance. Today’s video is a classic between OSH professionals.
Although initially filmed as a parody of 80’s work safety films, nowadays the video of Forklift Driver Klaus is used many times to show undesired behaviours when using a forklift. Beware that towards the end (starting around 4:45), the video becomes more and more graphic so watch it under your own discretion ;)
Time for Insights
According to OSHA (US Occupational Safety & Health Agency) forklift accidents cause around 85 fatalities each year and between 34,900-61,800 injuries. Read more here.
The most common forklift accidents are forklift rollovers followed by pedestrian impacts. Other important accidents are falling loads, operators falling from forks (please never do this) or crushings. You can read a list of the top 10 forklift accidents, their causes and prevention measures in this article.
Technology innovations have much to say in forklift accident prevention (automation, pedestrian detection through location or Artificial Vision, IoT and 5G…). However, good standards and classical prevention measures also help a lot to decrease accidents.