OSHA Hazard Information Bulletins
June 20, 1996
| MEMORANDUM FOR: |
REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS |
| FROM: |
STEPHEN MALLINGER
Acting Director
Directorate of Technical Support |
| SUBJECT: |
Hazard Information Bulletin(1): Unauthorized
Modification of a Forklift Carriage Assembly |
________
FOOTNOTE(1) The Directorate of Technical Support issues Hazard
Information Bulletins (HIBs) in accordance with OSHA Instruction CPL 2.65
to provide relevant information regarding unrecognized or misunderstood
health hazards, inadequacies of materials, devices, techniques, and safety
engineering controls. HIBs are initiated based on information provided by
the field staff, studies, and concerns expressed by safety and health
professionals, employers and the public. Information is compiled based on a
through evaluation of available facts, and in coordination with the
appropriate parties.
The Chicago Regional Office brought to our attention an accident that
resulted in a fatality. At the time of the accident, the employer had
engaged in the unsafe practice of modifying a forklift truck attachment.
Workers in a company that fabricates material handling equipment for the
road paving industry were welding a 216 3/4-inch long 3" by 3" angle iron
that was bent into a semicircular shape onto the top side of a cylindrical
silo. This step occurs at the end of the silo fabrication process. When
completed, the silo is about 11 1/2 feet in diameter, 50 feet long, and
weights 10,000 lbs. To perform this task, the silo was placed on its side on
a set of power-driven rollers with a crane. To weld the semicircular angle
iron onto the silo, the welding end of the silo had to be lifted up. To lift
the silo, an eight-foot long boom was attached to the fork carriage of a
forklift. The forklift operator inserted the extended boom 3' into the silo,
tilted the mast 15 degrees backward, and raised the fork carriage. A worker
then went underneath the fork carriage to measure the diameter of the silo.
He was crushed to death when the 500 lb. fork carriage and 250 lb. extension
boom disengaged from the top truck carriage bar and fell on him.
Attaching an eight-foot boom to the fork carriage to do the above task is a
modification of the forklift. This modification affects the capacity and the
safe operation of the forklift and must have the forklift manufacturer's
prior written approval [29 CFR 1910.178 (a)(4)]. Also, 29 CFR 1910.178
(m)(2) prohibits a worker from attempting to measure the diameter of the silo
from under the fork carriage. It states, "No person shall be allowed to
stand or pass under the elevated portion of any truck, whether loaded or
empty".
The fork carriage was mounted on the top truck carriage bar with two top
hooks engaged and two bottom hooks bolted onto the lower pads of the fork
carriage. The fork carriage is an Industrial Truck Association Class II
attachment with capacity ratings between two thousand and fifty-five hundred
lbs. When the load of the silo was placed at the tip of the extended
eight-foot boom, it may have exceeded the capacity of the attachment, causing
the attachment to jump off the top truck carriage bar.
Compliance and consultation personnel should remind users of forklifts that
any modifications that affect the capacity and safe operation of a forklift
must have written approval from the manufacturer.
Please distribute this bulletin to Area Offices, State Plan States,
Consultation Projects and appropriate local labor and industry associations.
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