34 DC VELOCITY JANUARY 2016 www.dcvelocity.com
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below them, notes Perry Ardito, general manager, warehouse products group North America for Jungheinrich.
For that reason, more buyers are investing in warning
systems that can detect obstructions, people, and objects
in the truck’s path. One solution offered by Jungheinrich
and some others, particularly in Europe, is a laser system
that detects obstructions in front of and behind the truck
and will automatically slow or stop the vehicle before it
makes contact. Most operator-up trucks have strobe or
other warning lights below the platform. Safety cameras
and 360-degree lasers are on the drawing board, and some
manufacturers offer features that automatically slow or halt
the truck at the ends of aisles.
High-lift trucks often have a vertical load backrest to help
prevent items from falling off the forks and tumbling onto
the operator’s platform or to the floor far below. They’re
also required to have overhead guards to protect operators
from falling objects, but these are not designed to protect
against very heavy items.
Overhead guards also protect the operator if they bump
into obstructions on the ceilings. The latter is a more com-
mon problem than you might think. “At 440 inches, you
are close to the ceiling, where you may run into lights, heat-
ing ducts, and sprinklers,” says UniCarriers’ Kordes. “Some
companies plan for ceiling clearance of the racks, but they
don’t take into account the load height when a truck takes
it off the top rack. They forget that they need four to six
additional inches for lifting the load.” This problem can
easily be prevented if the truck can be programmed not to
lift above a specified height.
A facility design and layout that are not uniform through-
out the building can present a safety hazard for high-lift
trucks, says Tim Forlow, senior product marketing man-
ager for Crown Equipment Corp. If a roof is graded or has
even a slight slope, you’ll need to account for the lowest
positions of lighting, ducts, and other ceiling-mounted
obstructions. Furthermore, tall equipment may work well
in one section of a warehouse, but not in another, he says.
“People forget that the other section of the warehouse may
have different measurements. You have to know what is the
collapse height of the truck and make sure the truck can go
underneath doors between sections of a DC or tunnels built
into rack.”
Operator falls are an even bigger worry than falling
cases or bumped heads. The ANSI/ITSDF standards and
OSHA regulations specify what kind of fall protection is
acceptable. For most trucks, the regulations allow a body
belt with a self-retracting lanyard, a full-body harness with
an energy-absorbing lanyard (maximum six
feet in length), or a full-body harness with a
self-retracting lanyard. (On its website, OSHA
says it “strongly encourages” the use of body
harnesses on elevated platforms of all types
of powered industrial trucks.) Since 2013,
the specifications have been based on the
operator’s weight, with different requirements
for operators weighing less than 220 pounds,
from 220 to 310 pounds, and from 311 to 400
pounds. If an operator weighs more than 220
pounds, the truck’s capacity must be reduced
by an amount equivalent to the operator’s
weight in excess of 220 pounds.
The belts and harnesses are just one element
of fall protection, though. The standards also
specify what’s permissible in terms of the
height and strength of guardrails and cabins,
including side gates (must withstand specified
pressure), floor covering (non-slip), and pedals
or other protuberances (nothing you could trip
over).
Another concern is reducing the chances
of sudden or inadvertent motion that could
catch an operator by surprise and throw him
or her off-balance. “To prevent the truck from
moving unless activated by the operator,” says
Yale’s Barrow, “man-up trucks can contain
built-in interlock functions that will not allow
truck operation without proper engagement,
such as retractable side gates and floor ped-
Can I get a lift?
Looking to buy a high-lift truck? Here are some of the manufacturers that currently provide reach trucks, order pickers, very-narrow-aisle trucks, turret trucks, and other high-lift forklifts in North
America. Product lineups vary from one company to another, so
be sure to check their websites for up-to-date information about
their current offerings.
b Big Joe ( www.bigjoeforklifts.com)
b Cat Lift Trucks ( www.mcfa.com/cat)
b Clark Material Handling Co. ( www.clarkmhc.com)
b CombiLift ( www.combilift.com)
b Crown Equipment Corp. ( www.crown.com)
b Hyster Co. ( www.hyster.com)
b Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas
( www.hceamericas.com/forklift)
b Jungheinrich ( www.mcfa.com/jungheinrich)
b Kion Group (Linde) ( www.kion-na.com)
b Komatsu Forklift U.S.A. ( www.komatsuamerica.com)
b Landoll Corp. (Landoll, Bendi, and Drexel) ( http://landoll.com)
b Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks ( www.mcfa.com/mit)
b Narrow Aisle Inc. ( www.narrowaisleinc.com)
b Stärke Material Handling Group ( starkecanada.com,
www.starkeusa.com)
b The Raymond Corp. ( www.raymondcorp.com)
b Toyota Material Handling U.S.A. Inc. ( www.toyotaforklift.com)
b UniCarriers Americas Corp. ( www.unicarriersamericas.com)
b Yale Materials Handling Corp. ( www.yale.com)
