Since this site is dedicated to forklift accidents and all things associated, we thought we would share some first hand accident stories. Since we are in the safety business, and have many contacts in the industry, these stories are real and have been submitted by colleagues. These are their stories.
John Taylor (not his real name) was an average family man who had been driving a forklift for the same company for more than 17 years. He faithfully attended all safety training but by his own admission, thought that it was “really boring.” He also admits that he would nod off during the training and took the opportunity to rest up. If you were to ask him today he would say that he wishes he would have listened more closely to those sessions. Why? Because John suffered an extremely bad injury when his forklift tipped over. He was attempting to move a load that was much too heavy for the forklift he was using. When he picked the load up, it tipped his lift over and sent it into a drainage ditch. Sounds bad huh? Well this isn’t the worst of it. He also killed one of his co-workers in the process. This forklift accident could have been prevented had he just been a little safer that day.
Lupe Villeda was another of our submitted stories. Mr. Villeda’s forklift accident was different in that he didn’t have any safety training at all before his injuries occurred. He was driving his lift improperly, hit another co-worker, and slammed his lift into the wall injuring his knee extremely bad. He needed an immediate arthroscopy on his knee to repair the damage. What makes this story different is that no safety training was offered by his employer. So who was at fault Mr. Villeda or his employer? Well…both. However, his employer had a much higher duty to provide safety training before Lupe ever sat his bottom in that forklift. This accident could have been prevented if the parties involved would take safety and put it as a higher priority.
The bottom line to these two stories is this – forklift accidents can and do occur all the time. Whether its due to lack of training, or due to not paying attention when your safety officer is speaking, both can be deadly. The moral to these stories, and the reason that we are sharing them, is to remind you that you are driving a deadly and dangerous weapon – a forklift. The powerful vehicles, when used improperly, can cause serious and sometimes fatal accidents so be safe.