DC Velocity - May 2017

48 DC VELOCITY MAY 2017 www.dcvelocity.com
and safety can be improved,” he says. “The same data can
also be used to recognize and reward operators who con-
sistently demonstrate safe behaviors.”
McCormick says using an asset management system,
such as his company’s wireless Yale Vision product, to
continuously monitor and evaluate operators’ adherence
to safety protocols “is a reliable avenue to keep safety
procedures top of mind and stave off complacency.” But at
the highest level, he continues, “the way to help operators
stay safe is to create a culture in which safety is always top
of mind.” That requires education for both operators and
pedestrians, he adds.

Grisez believes a core part of a safety culture is ongoing training at multiple levels of an organization. He’s not alone in that thinking: The ANSI/ITSDF B56.1-2016 standard now includes new requirements for fleet supervisors, he says. Under the revised rule, supervisors must be trained in how to reinforce safe operator practices and compliance, and to correct unsafe operator behavior or performance that does not conform to the standard, he explains.

For training to have the greatest beneficial impact,
Krakora says, operators and fleet managers should make it
a practice to continuously observe and evaluate how end
users perform. “Operators and fleet managers should look
with a critical eye at their applications and work environ-
ments and ask ‘what if’ more often,” he advises. “This will
help them to be proactive in identifying risks—and then they
must be diligent in determining how to reduce those risks.”
Still, more direct control may sometimes be necessary to
avoid overconfident operation, suggests Kion’s Hasenstab.
Various limits can be automatically enforced and improper
operation prevented, he says, citing the examples of sys-
tems that link lifted weight and elevated height and auto-
mate travel-speed reductions to match conditions like load
weight and forward, backward, indoor, and outdoor motion.
“As these systems are costly, management has to take
ownership of the issues and implementation,” he cautions.

Even as forklifts incorporate increasingly sophisticated safety features—often at customers’ request—the customers themselves may be making it more challenging for OEMs to fulfill safety goals. “They want more productivity, but faster and bigger is not necessarily safer,” observes Koffarnus. “That is why we focus on controlled performance: helping them to be as productive as possible while still being as safe as possible.” Nevertheless, as many of the OEMs noted, end users ultimately are responsible for ensuring safe operation. Koffarnus compares it with driving a car. “As much as technology like backup cameras and sensors helps with safe operation, the onus is still on the driver to safely drive on the road.” ;