Top 10 OSHA Violations

Created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,  the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a powerful agency within the Department of Labor charged with ensuring safe and healthful working conditions for American workers. OSHA sets and enforces standards for workplace safety and provides training, outreach, education and expertise to employers and other groups.

OSHA's broad jurisdiction is over private sector workplaces, federal agencies, maritime employers such as shipyards, military facilities, and other workplaces nationwide. The agency recently released data on the most common types of safety infractions in 2010,  providing a snapshot of the types of cost-cutting and ignorance that can lead to injuries and fatalities.

The Top Ten OSHA Violations
OSHA's  regulations cover a range of hazards that could lead to serious construction injuries and other jobsite accidents.  These were the ten most frequently cited violations;

• Scaffolding: OSHA's general requirements for scaffolding mandate specific weight requirements, use of counterweights, connections to roofs and floors and other factors to keep workers safe when working high above sidewalks and other surfaces.
• Fall protection: Guardrails, safe walking surfaces, safety nets and harnesses must be employed under certain conditions to prevent injuries from falls.
• Hazard communication: Workers must be informed of chemical hazards via container labeling, material safety data sheets and employee training.
• Respiratory protection: Employers must provide appropriate respirators and prevent atmospheric contamination to guard against occupational diseases caused by harmful dust, gases, smoke and vapors.
• Ladders: Portable and fixed ladders must meet strict guidelines regarding weight-bearing capacity, space between rungs and surface materials.
• Lockout/tagout: Machines and equipment that require servicing and maintenance must be guarded by procedures and tags that prevent accidental startup.
• Electrical wiring methods: All wiring conduits must be grounded or bonded to ensure electrical continuity and prevent severe shock or electrocution.
• Industrial trucks: Forklifts, tractors, platform lifts, motorized hand trucks, and other specialized equipment must meet design requirements for fire protection, design and maintenance.
• General electrical requirements: Electric equipment must be free of recognized hazards based on strength and durability, connection space, electrical insulation, heating and arcing effects, and other factors.
• Machine guarding: Operators and other employees in the area must be protected using appropriate barriers and electronic safety devices to avoid nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.

These violations put workers at risk. When workers on construction, renovation, demolition and excavation projects are injured due to OSHA violations, they may be entitled to sue the responsible parties for money damages for their pain and suffering, medical expenses and lost earnings.

Forklift Safety - Stay in the Cage

Forklift safety, something that employers need to be concerned about on a daily basis, is not always the easiest thing to convey to your employees.  It is peoples general nature to not believe something bad can happen to them until it is to late.  So as employers, you need to find ways to impress upon your employees why safety is critical to you and to them.

Sometimes a picture is worth  a thousand words.  This video attempts to illustrate forklift tipping issues.

I found this video on youtube and thought it might be useful to share with your employees as part of your efforts to continually educate them and keep the work place safe.  I find the model in the picture that the narrator uses to explain the balance issues with a forklift to be particularly easy to understand and to realize the limitations of a forklift.

Remember, OSHA requires that you train and certify your employees every three years or when either you have and incident or change venues or equipment.  If you have questions about this, give us a call at 323-622-6000 and we will help you with this issue.

Nissan Forklift Denies Company is being Acquired

Nissan Motor Co Ltd has denounced a media report the company will soon be acquired by Hitachi Construction Machinery Co.

An October 5 Nikkei Report article reported that the two companies are currently negotiating an operating and capital alliance between their forklift businesses.

Nissan spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa tells Forkliftaction.com News articles mentioning Hitachi Construction’s impending acquisition of Nissan Forklift Co are "incorrect and speculative".

Hitachi Construction, which owns forklift manufacturer TCM Corp, turned TCM into a wholly-owned subsidiary in December 2009 (Forkliftaction.com News #427). The parent company absorbed the wheel loader operations in April 2010, leaving TCM to focus on forklifts. Nikkei Report says TCM was ranked fourth, with an 8.4% market share, in Japan last year.

Nissan Forklift Co is fifth, according to Nikkei Report, with a 6.8% share of the domestic market. Together, the two forklift businesses would have 15.2% of the Japanese forklift market, closing in on third-placed Komatsu Ltd.


source: forkliftaction.com

Forklift Safety Through Scheduled Maintenance

We do a lot of talking about forklift safety on this blog.  We talk about safety equipment.  We talk about forklift safety training. The one thing we have not really talked about is how to keep your forklift safe by performing regularly scheduled maintenance on your forklift.

Maintenance is critical for your operators and forklift's safety.  Regularly scheduled, this process will inspect the inner details of your equipment to make sure they are operating properly and not on the edge of failure.  Proper lubrication and cleaning of your forklift can identify issues with your equipment that neither you or your operators are aware of.  You may have hoses that are worn and ready to leak or explode.  You may have bearings that are worn and ready to fail.  Dirty radiators can result in overheating and unusual engine wear.  Worn tires can result in uneven travel of the forklift and could increase the possibility of tipping.  Brakes need not only to be function checked, but they need to have a detailed visual inspection on some regular schedule.



Forkift Inspection Checklist

One of the most simple but probably least understood processes in a preventative maintenance program is the cleaning of your lift truck. The number one cause of forklift downtime is dirt and debris. A preventive maintenance program is only as good as the cleaning your fork lift receives. Make sure that your provider is taking the time to clean your lift thoroughly including, but not limited to, blowing out the radiator with compressed air, wiping down the hydraulic cylinders, and replacing dirty filters with clean ones.

So you can see that it is not only important to have a safety program that includes daily inspections, both visual and functional checks of the forklift (see the checklist example to the right), but also a more regular maintenance and inspection by a qualified forklift technician. 

In our effort to continue to support forklift safe use, we are offering a forklift maintenance special throught the end of the year. Click the button below to find our more.

Tis the Season for Forklift Rentals

Tis the season to consider a forklift rentals for your business operation. With the busy Christmas season approaching, is your business busy moving product in and out? Have you hired more staff to deal with the added movement of product?

There are times in the warehouse and freight industries when the workload suddenly increases exponentially. The month before the holidays is a good example of this. Anyone who has ever worked in the shipping industry knows that this time is by far the busiest of the year and lots of temporary employees and equipment are needed to handle it. Renting a forklift during this time can make the work much easier to handle. A good forklift designed for indoor warehouse use can easily perform tasks that would take several people hours to do on their own.

How do you respond swiftly to changes in your operating environment or meet urgent requests from your customers? Our Short-term Rental plan provides the answer, as it gives you the flexibility to quickly adjust the size of your core fleet. Alternatively, Short-term rental can provide you with a forklift truck in order to meet a specific need for a specific period of time

It is important that the operators of rental forklifts are properly trained and certified.  It may be tempting for many people to try to use a forklift without being properly trained, but incorrect or unsafe use of a forklift can result in injury, death, or the destruction of machinery.  Forklift rental is a perfect solution for temporary equipment needs , so long as trained personnel operate the lift correctly.

Contact your Hyundai Forklift of Southern California Rental Specialist for more information on how we can help you through this challenging season.

Hyundai Forklifts Adds More Power with a New GM Engine

Recently, Hyundai Forklifts Americas announced the addition of four new models to their product line.  These four new products will feature a GM 3.0L engine with 65 horsepower to allow your forklift to easily move loads up ramps and over hills. 

The General Motors engine, show to the right, is California Air Resource Board (CARB) tier IV certified.  This engine will be available in the 5,000 and 6,000 lbs cushion tire and pneumatic tire forklifts Hyundai offers.  The models are designated ast 25LC-7M/30LC-7M and 25L-7M/30L-7M.

This new engine, as stated earlier, provides the operator with 65 robust horsepower.  With this much power at the operators control, these forklifts have the ability to pull grades over 30% and a drawbar pull of well over 5,000 lbs.

If you would like more information on this engine, please contact your friendly Hyundai Forklift of Southern California sales team member.  They will be glad to review this option with you.