Lift Truck/Pedestrian Accidents – Causes and Prevention

Accidents involving lift trucks and a pedestrian are among the most frequently reported incidents, and often involve serious or fatal injuries.

Hyster Co has conducted a comprehensive study of such accidents, and this article reports in detail information currently available concerning lift truck/pedestrian accidents. This information will assist you in deciding how to equip lift trucks for your particular needs, how to establish workplace rules for safe lift truck/pedestrian interaction, and how to organize your physical workplace to reduce the potential for these accidents.

Lift trucks have good visibility, particularly to the rear. If a trained operator keeps a proper lookout in the direction of travel and maintains the lift truck under control, and if pedestrians are trained to maintain a proper lookout for their safety, there should be few, if any, lift truck/pedestrian accidents.

The Study

Hyster’s study included the following elements:

Evaluation of a substantial number of reported accidents
A comprehensive search to identify articles and studies concerning a means to prevent accidents involving a lift truck and pedestrian
A survey of lift truck users to identify the usage of optional audible and visible warning devices
Follow-up contact with manufacturers of these devices concerning the effectiveness of their products
Field evaluations of pedestrian warning devices.

Accident Data

Lift truck accident data is published periodically by various sources, including state and federal government organizations. However, specific factual information concerning individual accidents is frequently vague, and the factors that contribute to these accidents are difficult to identify.

Hyster Company’s evaluation of its own accident reports indicates that approximately as many of these accidents occurred while the lift truck was traveling forward (including tail-swing accidents) as in reverse. Most reverse travel accidents occurred within the first 10 ft of travel, whereas most of the forward travel accidents occurred after the first 25 ft. Many of the accidents involved injury to pedestrians who were not only aware of the presence of the lift truck but who were, in fact, working with the operator of the truck that struck them. Hyster Company found that some lift trucks involved in these accidents were equipped with audible and visible alarms, and that some lift trucks were equipped with alarms which were nonoperational at the time of the accidents.

Accident Causes

The lack of detailed information concerning specific accidents makes it impossible to isolate a common or predominant cause of accidents involving a lift truck and a pedestrian. However, some of the factors that may contribute to these accidents include:

Ambient noise levels
Ambient light levels
Number of lift trucks and pedestrians present
Level of training of lift truck operators
Level of education of pedestrians concerning lift truck operating characteristics and how to work around them
Physical workplace layout, including separate travel zones for pedestrians and lift trucks
Presence of audible or visible warning devices on lift trucks and other mobile equipment in the workplace
Presence of audible or visible warning devices on cranes, conveyors or other stationary industrial equipment
Lack of specific operating rules for lift truck travel, such as sounding the steering wheel horn at intersections or when changing directions
Lack of enforcement by management of safe work procedures for lift truck operators and pedestrians.

Operator and Pedestrian Training

OSHA regulations require specialized training and regular retraining for lift truck operators and remedial training for operators involved in accidents or near accidents. OSHA estimates that its current operator training requirements will prevent 11 deaths and 9,422 injuries per year.

Pedestrians should understand the operating characteristics of lift trucks when working in their proximity, and should understand and follow pedestrian rules that are established for their specific environment by their employers.

Separation of Lift Truck and Pedestrian Traffic

Unlike automobile and pedestrian traffic, there are no universal “rules of the road” governing lift truck/pedestrian interaction. Many of the largest and most sophisticated lift truck users have concluded that the most effective way to reduce these accidents is to separate lift truck and pedestrian traffic to the greatest extent possible, using separate travel lanes dedicated to trucks and to pedestrian traffic. Travel lanes may be marked with paint on the floor, or separated by physical barriers. Limitations may also be placed on travel areas for lift trucks to keep them away from high-density pedestrian traffic, such as near washrooms, break rooms, or time clocks.

Workplace Rules to Increase Pedestrian Safety

Every lift truck application environment is unique. Yet, when it comes to reducing or preventing accidents involving a lift truck and a pedestrian, they all have common resources, including independent safety consultants, employees, and your workers’ compensation insurance company’s loss control specialists. They can all assist you in developing appropriate rules that may help reduce or prevent the incidence of lift truck/pedestrian accidents in your particular workplace.

Here are some examples of workplace rules that are effective in many applications to reduce or prevent the incidence of lift truck/pedestrian accidents:

Limit lift truck travel speed
Require high visibility work clothes or vests for pedestrians
Restrict customers and non-employees from areas where lift trucks may be operating
Require lift truck operators to stop and sound the steering wheel horn at intersections or before passing through plastic strip curtains
Require pedestrians to come no closer than a predetermined distance from the lift truck, even when speaking to the operator.

Optional Audible and Visible Alarms

Hyster Co makes available as optional equipment a range of different audible and visible warning devices which you may select for your lift trucks. OSHA regulations and ASME B56.1 safety standards for lift trucks do not require the presence of warning devices on a truck other than the steering wheel horn, which is standard equipment. Every Hyster Co lift truck is safe as designed, even without optional warning devices.

Our study of optional warning devices indicates that approximately 70% of current lift truck users equip their trucks with some form of audible or visible warning device. However, the available accident data does not show that trucks equipped with optional warning devices are involved in a lower incidence of lift truck/pedestrian accidents than those without them. Many of the largest and most sophisticated users choose not to equip their trucks with such devices.

No manufacturer of audible or visible warning devices has undertaken a study on the effectiveness of their devices in reducing accidents; and no manufacturer could provide Hyster Co with any data concerning the effectiveness of their devices. The instructions accompanying such devices instruct the lift truck operator to always look in the direction of travel, regardless of the presence of the device.

Selecting Audible and Visible Alarms

In determining whether an audible or visible device may be beneficial in your particular work environment, several factors, including the following, should be considered:

Audible Devices -- Backup or Motion Alarms

Sound produced must be loud enough to be heard over other noise in the lift truck operating area

Sound should be readily distinguishable from other noise or audible devices in the work area
Audible devices may contribute to employee noise exposure and exceed OSHA noise limitation
Hearing protection makes it more difficult to hear the audible device and to determine the direction and distance from which the sound is coming
Audible devices can be annoying to operators and workers, and may be deactivated
Audible devices may also be objectionable to nearby residents.

Visible Devices -- Flashing, Rotating, and Strobe Lights

Placement of visible devices must be considered based on use of the lift truck and workplace conditions
Lights must clear low overhead obstructions and must not shine or reflect excessively into the operator’s eyes
Shielding may limit the light’s visibility to pedestrians
Light color should be different from lights used on stationary equipment or background colors in the workplace
Workplace light conditions and reflective surfaces should be considered when selecting the type of light
Brightly lighted or outdoor areas may necessitate bright or intense strobe lights, or may make the use of lights ineffective

Whether an optional warning device may be beneficial overall is dependent on factors specific to your workplace, and may require the assistance of a qualified safety professional to evaluate.

Other Considerations

You should always consider the following when using audible and visible warning devices:

Operators and pedestrians can become accustomed to, and may ignore, visible and audible signaling devices
Operators and pedestrians can become dependent on these devices and be less likely to watch for each other
Multiple signaling devices in the same area can create confusion or indifference for operators and pedestrians
Operations and training should be adjusted to counter these and any other potentially negative effects
Constant exposure to these devices can be fatiguing to operators and workers
Lift truck users consider the steering wheel horn to be an effective means of warning pedestrians of the presence of a truck.

Safety Professionals and Workplace Consultants

Lift truck users must assess their own workplace to evaluate whether it would be desirable to equip trucks with optional warning devices, and whether it would be desirable to change the layout of the physical workplace. While Hyster Co is expert in designing lift trucks to perform basic tasks in moving, stacking, and handling materials, only you are the expert about your business. You must decide how to equip your lift trucks, based on factors that are unique to your operation.

Safety professionals and workplace safety consultants are available to assist you in making decisions concerning workplace layout and the configuration of lift trucks and other equipment. Insurance companies, industrial safety consultants, workplace safety engineers, and other safety professionals should be consulted by anyone who needs assistance in determining how best to meet their specific workplace requirements. If you are in need of a training program for your operators, Hyster Co offers “Productivity in Motion” through its authorized dealers.