Sacramento, CA Forklift Accident Lawyer

Forklift Accidents: How Bad Practices Cause Serious Workplace Injuries

Heavy machinery operation, whether used to excavate, remodel, or move construction materials or cargo, is an essential job affecting nearly every aspect of modern life, from building to food supply. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 850,000 material-moving machine operators employed across the country. These jobs encompass:

• Industrial truck and tractor (aka forklift) operators, who operate heavy equipment across building sites, storage yards, warehouses and other industrial spaces
• Conveyor operators and tenders, who move materials to and from building sites, storage areas and other areas using conveyor systems
• Crane and tower operators, who are guided by workers on the ground to move cargo through ports, construction sites, mills, and other industrial areas
• Derrick operators, who use hoists and winches to move materials and workers via platforms, cages and cables across construction sites
• Dredge operators, who use heavy equipment to maintain the navigability of ports and waterways

By their very nature, moving machine operator jobs are dangerous, resulting in many tens of thousands of injuries, including deaths, every year. A worker operating or positioned near a forklift, crane, tower, derrick, dredge or conveyor belt is always at risk of serious injury. In this article, we will focus on one of the more common causes of heavy machine injury, that of forklift operation. But the hazards, devastating injuries and related workplace accident injury litigation involving forklifts can apply to nearly any moving machine operation job.

How Common Are Forklift Accidents?

Unfortunately, forklift accidents in the United States are all-too-common, and usually, they can be very serious, producing long-term and permanent injuries, including chronic pain, dysfunction, disfigurement and incapacity. Records on the frequency and impact of forklift accidents produce some alarming statistics. Recent data from Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) shows:

• About 11% of forklifts are involved in an accident each year
• On average, 95 people are seriously injured in forklift accidents every day, though some estimates are as much as double this estimate
• 36% of forklift deaths are pedestrians
• 75 to 100 workers are killed annually, a nearly 30% increase over just the past decade

The industries most dramatically affected by serious injury and forklift fatalities are manufacturing and construction, but any workplace that utilizes forklifts assumes a risk. OSHA estimates that roughly 70% of forklift accidents could be prevented with better training policies, safety protocols, and equipment maintenance. Some issues, however, involve defects in design. One recent legal case demonstrated that the lack of a 3-point seatbelt was responsible for the devastating injuries to a worker that left him a quadriplegic.

Types of Forklift Accidents

Forklifts can injure and kill workers and pedestrians due to design and performance problems, unchecked wear and tear, falling loads, tipping, and poor safety training. Understanding the most common types of forklift accidents is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies. The following are the primary categories of forklift-related incidents:

• Forklift Overturns

Forklift tip-overs are the most common and deadly type of forklift accident, accounting for 24% of all incidents and 25% of fatalities. These accidents often occur due to:

• Driving at excessive speeds
• Making abrupt turns
• Carrying unbalanced or overweight loads
• Operating on uneven surfaces or inclines

• Pedestrian Collisions

Accidents involving pedestrians are particularly dangerous, causing a disproportionate number of serious injuries and fatalities. Approximately 20% of forklift accidents involve pedestrians, and account for 36% of forklift-related deaths. Common scenarios include:

• Crushing a pedestrian against a stationary object
• Striking or running over a pedestrian
• Crushing a pedestrian between two vehicles
• Falling onto a pedestrian or striking them as the forklift falls

• Falling Loads

When items fall from the forks of a truck, both operators and nearby workers are at risk of injury due to:

• Improperly secured loads
• Overloading the forklift
• Sudden movements or tilting of the mast
• Damaged or bent forks

• Personnel Falling from Forks

Despite being strictly prohibited, some workers attempt (and may even be encouraged) to “ride the forks” for convenience or perceived efficiency. This dangerous practice often leads to falls and serious injuries.

• Other Types of Forklift Accidents

• Collisions with stationary objects or other vehicles
• Injuries during maintenance or repair
• Accidents due to mechanical failures
• Poor forklift design

Factors Contributing to Forklift Accidents

While any number of circumstances may be at play, the most common reasons for the high incidence of forklift accidents include:

1. Inadequate Training

As stated, OSHA believes that the majority of the country’s forklift accidents could be prevented with more rigid and specific training policies. Too few companies mandate and provide:

• Truck-specific safety training (re: controls, instrumentation, speed and stability limitations, etc.)
• Workplace environment considerations (surface conditions, load manipulation, pedestrian traffic)

By failing to provide adequate instruction on how to safely operate a forklift and other heavy machinery, companies may encourage improper or negligent use of these heavy, potentially dangerous vehicles.

2. Lack of Proper Inspections

Too many companies fail to employ routine inspection and maintenance of their heavy equipment, with disastrous results. Laxity or laziness in performing routine inspections often results in terrible injury to forklift operators and pedestrian coworkers. Daily inspection of forklifts is crucial for identifying potential hazards. Areas requiring regular daily inspection include:

• Tires
• Forks
• Mast chains
• Overhead guards
• Hydraulic systems
• Brakes
• Seat belts

3. Inadequate Seatbelt Use

Because forklift tip-overs are the deadliest type of forklift accident, seatbelts can play a major role is operator safety. Ways in which forklift seatbelts reduce the risk of serious injury and death include:

• Restraining the operator: The main reason workers die from forklift tip-over events is that they fall or jump from the tipping forklift, often resulting in terrible crushing injuries.
• Slowing deceleration: When a forklift collides with something, the operator’s body continues to move forward, and the sudden, jarring force can produce whiplash, bone fracture, concussion, and other traumatic injuries. Seatbelts slow the body’s deceleration during a crash, reducing the severity of the impact.
• Preventing secondary collisions: Seatbelts reduce the risk of the forklift operator being thrown into interior surfaces like the steering wheel or forklift cage, which can produce or worsen injury.

While OSHA requires that all industrial machines manufactured after 1992 be equipped with seat belts and other restraints, there is no specific demand that they be the superior 3-point variety. Three-point seatbelts can go further than standard seatbelts in preventing forklift accident injuries in several key ways:

• Superior restraint: A 3-point seatbelt works better at keeping the operator inside the forklift’s protective cage during a tip-over or collision, preventing ejection, which is often fatal.
• Protecting vital organs: Proper positioning of the belt can help protect internal organs.
• Reducing whiplash: The shoulder strap helps limit forward movement of the head and neck, reducing the severity of whiplash injuries.
• Spreading impact forces: The 3-point design distributes collision forces across the chest, pelvis, and shoulders, reducing the risk of injury to any single area.
• Preventing “submarining”: The securing of the entire torso prevents operators from sliding under the belt during a crash.

While seatbelts, particularly 3-point seatbelts, are highly effective in preventing many serious forklift injuries, they must be worn diligently and correctly to provide optimal protection. One company was fined $60,000 after a worker’s foot was crushed in a forklift accident while the operator was not wearing a seatbelt, strongly indicating that proper seatbelt use is crucial to preventing serious injuries and fatalities in forklift accidents, particularly in tip-over scenarios.

4. Environmental Factors

Workplace conditions play a significant role in forklift safety. Issues such as poor lighting, cluttered aisles, slippery surfaces, inadequate signage and lack of commonsense protocols regarding heavy machinery use around pedestrians can all contribute to accidents.

5. Operator Behavior

Unsafe practices by operators, such as speeding, distracted driving, or attempting to lift loads beyond the forklift’s capacity, are major contributors to accidents. While these may sometimes be due to operator recklessness, they are more likely owed to unreasonable performance demands and/or poor or insufficient on-the-job training by employers. High production quotas and cost-saving efforts can make some business owners or managers negligent about instituting effective training protocols and maintaining reasonable working conditions, creating significant risk to forklift operators and pedestrians. Amazon, for example, has been the subject of a slew of reports citing insufficient safety measures in many of its warehouses, including imposing such arduous work schedules on forklift and other heavy machine operators that they are rendered incapable of performing their jobs safely.

Proper training and adherence to safety protocols are crucial for overall forklift safety, and, sadly, many companies are lax when it comes to ensuring their forklift operators are adequately trained and protected.

The Economic Impact

Obviously, the financial consequences of a forklift accident are substantial. For the industry, these accidents produce lost productivity, workers’ compensation claims, equipment damage and potential legal liabilities. But these losses are nothing compared to those of the injured party, whose pain, suffering, inability to work, medical expenses, rehabilitation therapies and other immediate and long-term costs can be devastating. And for a family who has lost a loved one to a forklift accident, the loss is catastrophic.

Far too often, the greed and callousness of businesses encourages insufficient training, grueling production quotas, unreasonably long work hours, and other contributors to forklift accidents and related injuries.

Preventing Forklift Injuries and Fatalities

Employers who adhere to smart practices can dramatically reduce the number of forklift-related accidents, injuries and deaths, as well as other heavy equipment accidents. Forklift injury prevention requires a multi-faceted approach, including the following:

1. Comprehensive Training Programs – Training programs must go beyond basic operation to include:

• Hazard recognition
• Speed and load limits
• Load handling techniques
• Proper maintenance procedures
• Emergency response protocols

2. Regular Equipment Maintenance – Employers must establish and adhere to a rigorous maintenance schedule to ensure all forklifts are in optimal working condition and kitted with sufficient safety equipment.
3. Workplace Design and Safety Measures – Businesses must improve workplace layout and safety features by:

• Implementing clear traffic patterns for forklifts and pedestrians
• Installing adequate lighting and signage
• Using impact barriers and guardrails in high-risk areas
• Ensuring proper ventilation in indoor spaces

4. Technology Integration – Companies using forklifts need to utilize advanced safety technologies such as:

• Proximity warning systems
• Load weight indicators
• Stability control systems
• Systems designed to monitor operator behavior

5. Safety Culture Development – Businesses must foster a strong culture of safety. This is best done by:

• Encouraging open communication about safety concerns
• Recognizing and rewarding safe behaviors
• Conducting regular safety meetings and refresher training

6. Regulatory Compliance – OSHA plays a crucial role in setting and enforcing standards for forklift safety. Key regulations include:

• Mandatory operator training and certification
• Age restrictions (operators must be at least 18 years old)
• Specific guidelines for load handling and equipment maintenance

Employers who fail to comply with these regulations may face significant fines and legal consequences, especially in the event of an accident. In legal actions, companies that repeatedly fail to install these practices – especially despite reports of hazards and cited accidents – can incur severe punitive damages in addition to actual damages. Too often, a substantial financial settlement is the only thing that gets companies to adhere to appropriate safety measures. 

Injury Patterns and Severity

Forklift accidents tend to result in more severe injuries compared to other workplace incidents. The median number of days away from work for forklift-related injuries is 13, significantly higher than the overall median of 8 days for most other workplace injuries. The most common types of injuries resulting from forklift accidents include:

• Fractures – including broken bones, concussions, spinal cord injuries
• Contusions – trauma to the soft tissues and/or bones
• Whiplash, sprains, muscle tears, tendon tears
• Dislocated joints
• Crushing injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Amputations (which account for about 1% of forklift injuries)

Considering how common forklift accidents are in the US, severe injuries happen far more often than they should, often creating extreme hardship when it comes to everyday functioning, ongoing employment, relationship status, emotional well-being and other areas. Workers and pedestrians injured in a forklift injury due to improper training, inadequate workplace safety measures, poor equipment design, insufficient maintenance, or unreasonable workplace demands, can suffer extreme bodily injury, insurmountable economic costs, and permanent changes to their way of life.

AutoAccident.com for Legal Assistance With a Forklift Injury

With a commanding legal presence in all 50 states, the California-based injury law firm of AutoAccident.com is a trusted leader in accident injury litigation. We maintain 10.0 ratings from Avvo and Justia, 5-star ratings on Yelp and Google, and membership in the Million Dollar Forum and the National Association of Distinguished Counsel.

If you live anywhere in the US and a forklift accident or other heavy machinery accident left you or a loved one hurt, disabled, disfigured, or with a damaged quality of life, contact us today. We will sit down with you one-on-one, evaluate your case, and discuss all your options. Moving forward with your case, we will do everything to help you get the justice you deserve, including evaluating your present and long-term medical and emotional needs, consulting with experts in forklift accidents, collecting evidence to support your case, and fighting for a just settlement to get you the compensation and care you need to focus on getting back to your life as quickly and fully as possible.

Call our powerful legal team at 916.921.6400 or toll-free at 800.404.5400 for free, friendly advice.