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can forklift forks drop of their own accord?
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Robert Gibson  
#1 Posted : 19 February 2010 10:36:47(UTC)
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Robert Gibson
Just investigating an accident where a load became dislodged whilst being moved by forklift. The driver couldn't shift it as the forks had jammed and tried to move them manually. At this point the forks dropped down slightly - a very short distance (apparently of their own accord) and trapped the employees fingers. Luckily there was no serious injury but obviously it could have been potentially nasty. Is it possible for forks to move like this?
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Jacob  
#2 Posted : 19 February 2010 10:44:43(UTC)
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Jacob
Morning Robert, from my own experience, as I was servicing forklift trucks, this could happen only if the hydraulic hoses to the mast of the truck burst. Then your pressure would go down and the forks would gradually drop due to oil leak from the system. The only other option I can think off is, when the operating handle doesn't work right, for example getting stuck on way back, but in this case the forks would go down straight away and the driver would not have time to jump off and walk around the truck. Hope this helps, it's only knowledge from my own experience. Jacob
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Jacob  
#3 Posted : 19 February 2010 10:48:08(UTC)
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Jacob
sorry, I just thought again. There is another possibility, which is more likely to happen. If the forks got stuck and the driver was trying to lower them and didn't succeed, then he may left them in position, when there was no tension on the chains, therefore they were held by the load. When the forks were released, they would dropped down till the chain stop them.
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Robert Gibson  
#4 Posted : 19 February 2010 10:52:08(UTC)
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Robert Gibson
Morning Jacob Thanks - your reply does help me very much and gives me something to go on. I was going to have a look at the FLT service records anyway but your information gives me something specific to look at. Do you mind if I ask you what you would recommend as far as control measures are concerned to prevent this from happening again? I don't like the idea of employees manually trying to loosen trapped loads but if the forks are trapped as well then what would you recommend? Thanks again
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db  
#5 Posted : 19 February 2010 10:53:13(UTC)
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db
Morning Robert et al, As an examiner of Lifting Equipment I'm not sure of the model so ill go with the most common type (roller chain height adjustment driven via bottom mounted hydro-ram, with hydro-ram driven forward/backward adjustment and side shift. If you are refering to the back plate of the truck (where the fork mounting attaches to the mast) i.e the chain driven plate - they haver more of a tendancy to creep under load as opposed to a sudden drop. That said though a forign body in the mechanisim, an airlock in the ram, a collapse in the ram, a pin failure, chain parting, slippage, incorrect seating of the chain drive in the sprocket suddenly realigning, sprocket tooth failure, incorrect chain anchor tension could all cause the load to "jam" and then "drop". If it is the forks themselves dropping into the width adjustment pockets - that is more than possible, but would be down to incorrect seating of the forks prior to the lift. Either way quaranteen the truck and get a full thorough examination (and may I suggest load test) to find the route cause. Hope this helps Yours aye DB
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Robert Gibson  
#6 Posted : 19 February 2010 10:53:29(UTC)
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Robert Gibson
I have just read your second suggestion - again I will look at this. Thank you
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Dazzling Puddock  
#7 Posted : 19 February 2010 12:48:13(UTC)
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Dazzling Puddock
Jacob wrote:
sorry, I just thought again. There is another possibility, which is more likely to happen. If the forks got stuck and the driver was trying to lower them and didn't succeed, then he may left them in position, when there was no tension on the chains, therefore they were held by the load. When the forks were released, they would dropped down till the chain stop them.
As an operator in the dim and distant I would agree as this used to happen quite frequently if the forks were lowered (or tried to be) too far whilst being fixed in place by a load! I would be concerned at why the operator had his fingers under the forks in any circumstances!!
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andy.c  
#8 Posted : 20 February 2010 00:56:36(UTC)
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andy.c
Hi Robert
Jacob wrote:
I just thought again. There is another possibility, which is more likely to happen. If the forks got stuck and the driver was trying to lower them and didn't succeed, then he may left them in position, when there was no tension on the chains, therefore they were held by the load. When the forks were released, they would dropped down till the chain stop them. The above quote is the most likely reason, you ask about a control measure, unfortunately everything points to operator error. lets assume you have all your ducks in a row, thorough inspection, service records, pre use check, all in order and showing no equipment failure. So why did the load become dislodged = operator error why did the forks drop = operator error who's fingers and why were they in the way = operator error Control measure, remove authorisation to drive, retrain with focus on the causes of the incident, breif all operators on proceedure for dealing with incidents. now in defence of the operator, why was he trying to deal with the incident without supervisory imput, usually this is either embarrassment or the fear factor, the later could be a contributing factor regards Andy
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Robert Gibson  
#9 Posted : 22 February 2010 09:23:27(UTC)
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Robert Gibson
Hi Thanks for all your suggestions - all extremely helpful - obviously I am taking this incident very seriously and trying to get to the root causes. It does look like operator error (thanks Andy) and that is something i will be addressing specifically but without trying to blame the operator. Hopefully we can move on from this and try to improve systems.
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ab risk  
#10 Posted : 22 February 2010 09:39:36(UTC)
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Guest
I'd like to quote Trevor Kletz "To say accidents are due to human failing is like saying falls are due to gravity. It is true but it does not help us prevent them." It does seem like the driver did do a number of things wrong, but why? Would another driver have done the same things in the same circumstances? In my opinion the 'control measures' proposed by Andy make a rather large assumption regarding the root causes of this incident. If this incident is taken as an indication that this person should not be allowed to drive a fork lift truck, why was he/she allowed to drive it before the incident? Suggests a lack of supervision. If training is the solution, what was wrong with the training in the first place and how did those weaknesses occur? Why does the driver require re-training and everyone else only a briefing? Did he/she receive totally different training originally? I'm not saying Andy is wrong, but just with the information provided I don't think it is possible to reach such conclusions.
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frankhone  
#11 Posted : 22 February 2010 10:08:54(UTC)
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frankhone
basic training is just that basic. Continued supervision for a period following basic training then once the supervisor and employer are satisfied with performance on the job and agree that the driver is competant in the job issue permit reduce supervision . unfortunatly a lot of companies assume that basic training gives the employee competance to do the job and issue permit straight after basic training. basic training is done in a controlled environment and cant possibly cover every scenario. I would put all drivers through and increase supervision untill competance can be verified by their supervisors. Regards Frank
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frankhone  
#12 Posted : 22 February 2010 10:10:32(UTC)
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frankhone
all drivers through Tool Box Talk frank
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L McCartney  
#13 Posted : 22 February 2010 10:44:12(UTC)
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L McCartney
Hi Folks, there was a fatal accident round about 1992 in Aberdeen where the forks failed completely and killed an employee who was standing under them to see why they had stuck. As far as I remember the forklift had been bought second hand and the certificates with it had been altered to suggest it could lift a higher load weight than it could have. I'm not sure of the outcome of this though as the ocmpany using the forklift had bought it in good faith. So, be careful about sticking forks. Lilian
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