Monday, October 11, 2010

New ANSI Standard

New ANSI Standard to Prevent Accidental Unclamping

Effective for lift trucks shipping on or after October 7, 2010 a new safety standard states that all lift trucks with a load bearing clamp (paper roll clamp, carton clamp, etc.) must require two distinct motions on the part of the driver before opening or releasing the clamp. For example, you must press a button and then move a lever to unclamp the load. This requirement applies to new and used attachments being mounted on new trucks shipping after the effective date above.

Section 7.25.7 of ANSI/ITSDF B56.1 Safety Standard for Low Lift and High Lift trucks states: The manual operation or physical action of the control used to release a load bearing clamp shall require two distinct motions or operations by the operator before the clamp is opened and the load bearing force is released. For example move the lever or handle to the left (or right) and then forward (or down), or, depress a button on the lever or handle and then move the lever or handle forward (or down).