Distribution centers and modern warehouses rely heavily on forklifts in their daily operations. The forklifts quickly and safely move pallets and heavy items around. It is a good idea to invest in reliable and rugged forklifts to manage your requirements. However preventive maintenance is necessary to keep the trucks in good condition. You have to understand how to use forklifts safely in your workplace while minimizing maintenance schedules and optimizing performance and useful life.
Avoid forklift failure
Forklifts are for carrying heavy loads across the warehouse. Over time, this encourages wear and tear of the forklifts’ mast leading to failure and eventual fall of loads. This might cause injuries to other staff and damage to items and structure. Additionally, regular use makes tires wear out and making management of the forklift harder. Your forklift is also prone to electrical failure including short out leading failures. Safe use of the forklifts requires preventive maintenance to limit the chances of failure.
Identify forklifts that need cycling out
Sometimes, forklifts develop issues that can’t be addressed by routine maintenance cost-effectively. The viable solution is to replace the forklift to achieve peak performance. Detecting this requires regular inspection to determine how much you are spending on replacement parts and service. Adjusting your fleet management strategy to accommodate replacement is a cost-effective solution than to keep investing in a truck that breaks down more often. New forklifts work for a long period before developing issues.
Maintain efficient performance
Busy warehouses have so much to accomplish in a short period. This requires your forklifts to run around more regularly. Poorly maintained forklifts are less likely to perform without breaking down. These are prone to batteries running of charge which slows operations to cost you more time. It is important to have a reliable source of forklift safety repair solutions to mitigate against such mishaps. This should be your source of appropriate replacement parts to keep your trucks working at peak performance while ensuring workplace safety.
Prevent workplace injuries
Workplace safety is paramount while using forklifts. Unexpected breakdown of these trucks might cause injuries. Sudden mas fails might make nearby employees get struck by falling items or damage to nearby pallets. Failure by the forklift control system encourages uncontrollable movement and might cause harm to the operator or others nearby. Regular maintenance limits the chances of catastrophic failures and workplace injuries.
Save on the total cost of fleet ownership
Breakdown of forklifts significantly slows down business operations and getting them back on the road might come at a heavy cost. Routine maintenance prevents this from happening and lowers overall service costs. A break down usually happens after a host of other problems.
A leaky hydraulic pump seal for a forklift hydraulic lift cylinder is cheaper and easier to repair than replacing after getting ruptured. Fixing problems early during scheduled maintenance saves a lot of money and limits the chances of accidents and injuries.
Routine checks to ensure your forklifts are in good shape
Routine checks should never be underestimated. Whether operating a forklift or any heavy machinery, poorly maintained equipment can cause a major disaster.
Below are the important things you need to check in forklifts regularly:
Check fluids
The forklift has various parts including the hydraulic system and engine that needs regular care to remain functional. Keeping these parts running efficiently and free from damage requires keeping a close eye on the fluid levels. Appropriate lubrication is necessary to keep the engine and hydraulic system running freely without damage.
Low engine oil or hydraulic fluid level might mean the presence of a leak. You have to take appropriate precautions to check the underlying problem to protect the forklift from damage. Ignoring to fix leaks makes the forklift prone to severe damage and eventual breakdown.
Inspect the tires before use
Another way to ensure the forklift is in good shape is to check tires before each use. When inspecting the tires, focus on air pressure and tread wear. The tires need to be properly inflated to allow wearing evenly. Inspecting the tires allows determining whether using the forklift is safe to use. This limits the chances of accidents that might lead to damages and injuries in the workplace.
Check the manufacturer’s manual to determine the recommended tire specifications for your forklift. Hiring an expert forklift technician is also highly advised if you don’t have an in-house technician available to check the tires. Through regular tire inspection, you won’t compromise the safety of your workers.
Check and change braking components
While operating the forklift, the operator makes various complete stops multiple times. So, braking power should remain constant. You can only be sure of this by regular checking and changing of the braking components where necessary. This is very important since brake pads are likely to wear out as time goes by. Driving on worn-out brake pads is very dangerous since braking becomes harder. Regular inspection of the braking system and undertaking appropriate repairs and replacements with the help of a professional is very important.
Adopt Innovative Safety Technological Solutions
While forklifts promote workplace safety, this equipment can also be a cause of injury due to incorrect operation. Thus, to reduce risks and promote safety in your workplace, you may adopt innovative safety technological solutions.
With the advancement of technology, software programs are now available to automate health and safety detection and monitoring in work environments. For instance, job risk analysis and behavior-based apps integrate with enterprise applications. Such apps help companies reduce errors, share data, automate cross-functional workflows, streamline data entry, and have a centralized source of truth to ensure quality health and safety information.
In addition, monitoring and reporting accidents, like forklift incidents, are more seamless with an enterprise quality management system. Check out how a specially-designed app or software can help your company attain this goal at https://www.etq.com/platform/.
Bottom line
For smooth operations in a warehouse, forklifts come in handy to move heavy loads around. However, these need regular maintenance and repair to ensure that they run efficiently without breakdown and other issues. This ensures a smooth flow of operations in your workplace without risk of damage to other trucks, pallets, and structure while protecting staff from injuries.
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