Predicting injury in forklift upsets

Researchers from the Biomechanics Institute present test results that demonstrate operators can prevent ejection and injury from a forklift if they are lap-belted and have either a winged seat or hit restraint.

A sharp rise of industrial forklift-related accidents occurred in the 1960s. California, for example, saw a 400% increase in forklift injuries in 1970, while total lost time injuries over the same time period increased only 150%. Accidents involving forklifts tended to be more severe as exemplified by data collected in North Carolina in 1976: 18.8% of the injuries involving material-handling equipment resulted in over 25% of the fatalities.

Forklift: upset began to manifest as a particularly hazardous type of accident. Of 132 fatalities recorded in California in 1980 that occurred with the forklift in motion, 50% were due to overturning and running off the road. A study in Wisconsin concluded that forklift overturn accidents were severely “out of proportion to their numbers.” Reviews of accident details of these fatal accidents most often report that the vehicle overturned and the worker jumped or was thrown out; the operator was pinned to the ground by the vehicle canopy and died as a result of his injuries.