I was watching television recently and a show, which shall remain nameless, came on detailing how things were manufactured. While multi-tasking on my mobile device, which shall also remain nameless, the show started planning a lift using a forklift?!?! Of course this got my attention. What I saw was a familiar improper use of slings on forklift tines, but this time it was on national TV for everyone to see.  I immediately snapped a few pictures because it's one of those incorrect sling uses that is wrong on many levels. I thought I would share this with our readers so you have an opportunity to see this through my eyes. Maybe I can just get one person (hopefully several) to recognize this type of rigging as being extremely dangerous.

And there is no better day to do this than the National Forklift Safety Day, which just happens to be today.

 Take a close look at the picture. What do you see? 

Any deficiencies or concerns? 

Study it for a few more moments, now here's what I see:

1. The Whole Scenario: I don't know of a single forklift manufacturer who would permit lifting directly from the fork tines in this manner. There have been so many sling failures and so many lawsuits that all the manufacturers recognize this as an extremely high risk and a known job site hazard. Simply put, NEVER SLING A LOAD FROM A FORK TINE.
2. The Forks: Again, NEVER lift directly from the forks, but look at what's happening when slinging from a single fork. If you really feel the need to permanently bend one fork then this is a good way to get the job done. Unfortunately, the forks become misaligned and create future problems. I know of cases where damaged (bent) forks were the cause of a forklift operator inadvertently pushing a pallet of goods off the opposite side of an elevated storage area.
3. The Sling: While this synthetic sling may be a fine choice to rig the cylinder in another lift situation, in this circumstance the sling is subject to being cut by the metal edge of the fork. There is no best case here...if the sling doesn't get cut and immediately fail, it can be damaged, setting the users up for a failure in the future. I don't even want to give an impression of condoning the use of slings to rig under forks, but understanding the need for sling protection often comes as a result sudden and catastrophic sling failure. 
4. The C-Clamp: Does this really need to be addressed? While I could commend them for trying to stop the sling from coming off the end, if the forklift tilted the forks down and the sling began to slide do we really believe this c-clamp is going to help anything? That kind of force could easily cause the sling to be sliced and fail on its way to the c-clamp. 

Now, I am not saying you cannot sling loads from forklifts, you can. But, you must use a device that attaches to the forks (that is Forks with an 'S') to attach the slings. Some of these are made to resemble a boom that can add reach, some just slip over the forks and do not add any reach. All of them must be a device the forklift manufacturer approves and when they are used they must have a restraint that ties them back to the forklift mast.

Now, due to space considerations and brevity, I will stop here, but this story unfortunately doesn't stop here. It goes on every day in the industrial arena and anything you can do at your local safety meetings or company wide bulletins to get the word out can help save someone's legs, or head, or life. I'd like to hear what you think of this situation, please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts or feedback and we will share with our readers your comments in a future newsletter. Also we'd like for you to participate in our poll below to give us better insight into your understanding of forklift attachments.

Here's to a Safe Day!

 --Bo Collier, President

Remember, if you ever need advice about how to properly use a forklift, feel free to call us to talk through the situation.  We offer a Forklift Train-The-Trainer class so your training team can educate others on the proper use of forklifts. After all, Safety through Education is more than our tagline, it is our guiding principle!