[size=3][font=Verdana]70 percent of workplace accidents could be avoided with proper training and safety procedures.[/font][/size]

[font=Verdana]By BENJAMIN W. MANGAN
Mancomm[/font]

[font=Verdana]What should you do if you're driving a forklift under normal working conditions and it starts to tip over? Is it safer to stay in the vehicle or jump out? [/font]

[font=Verdana]If you said, "jump," you'd be dead wrong: a driver who did that would be putting his or her life in jeopardy. [/font]

[font=Verdana]The safest way to survive a tip-over is to stay in the vehicle, seat belt always fastened, with a tight grip on the steering wheel and feet braced against the floor, leaning forward and away from the direction of the tip-over. [/font]

[font=Verdana]Because forklifts are everyday equipment at jobsites nationwide, many people may not realize they can be potentially dangerous. It's every company's responsibility to make sure its forklift operators are properly trained and certified before they ever get to run a forklift. [/font]

[font=Verdana]A unique vehicle [/font]

[font=Verdana]Compare a forklift to a car and you'll see that forklifts are unique vehicles with special challenges. While the average automobile weighs around 3,000 pounds, the average forklift weighs around 9,000 pounds. Also, forklifts are heavier in the rear to counter the weight of items being carried in the forks. And, while cars have brakes on all four wheels, most forklifts only have stopping power in their front drive wheels. Those factors combine to make forklifts harder to stop, so they should be driven slowly. [/font]

[font=Verdana]Since a forklift is turned by moving the rear wheels, it has a much smaller turning radius than a car. When cornering, the rear end of a forklift swings outward. A forklift is also easier to tip over on a turn. The driver needs to be very careful when turning, stopping, or accelerating, since the vehicle could tip over or the load could fall off. [/font]

[font=Verdana]Forklifts are often used to carry tall loads in the front. That's why forklifts are designed to drive equally well backward and forward. When forward vision is obscured, the vehicle must be driven backward, with the driver looking in the direction of travel. Operators should drive with the load as low as conditions will permit without dragging. Forklifts can raise loads to great heights