Powered industrial trucks, more commonly known as forklifts, are the worker bees in many manufacturing and warehousing operations. Although primarily used to move materials, they also can be used to raise, lower or remove large objects or a number of smaller objects on pallets or in boxes, crates or other containers. In other words, they do the heavy lifting for us.
Powered industrial trucks can either be ridden by the operator or controlled by a walking operator, and there are many types of powered industrial trucks. Each type presents different operating hazards. For example, a sit-down, counterbalanced high-lift rider truck is more likely than a motorized hand truck to be involved in a falling load accident because the sit-down rider truck can lift a load much higher than a hand truck.
