appreciate you stopping in this week, I’m Marty with the Warehouse and

Operations as a Career Podcast! We’ve been working on a few shows coming up

next month, breaking into the transportation fields, 3pl’s and a little on freight

brokerage!  Until then though, lets talk

a little about being an equipment operator. 

We’ve been discussing several of the different positions in the

warehouse and how to build our plans and set our goals to get where we’re

wanting to go.  I’ve heard from several

listeners that’s taken those general labor positions, just using them to get on

the payroll and have already started taking advantage of their new

experiences.  Many of those goals of

course lead to be an equipment operator. 

Maybe a pallet runner or order selector using the electric rider pallet

jacks, maybe the doubles or triples even. 

I’m working with several young men and women with their eyes set on the

forklift positions, both the sit down or counterbalance units or the stand-ups

and reach lifts.  You know, and you’ve

heard me say many times, experience is the only way to become a proficient or

professional operator.  We’ll probably be

exposed to the electric pallet jacks first, and it’s a pretty easy unit to

operate.  I enjoyed my years running

pallets, learned a lot about the front docks and especially the receiving

process.  We just recently talked about

running pallets, Check out episode number 129. 

There I am straying again. 

Anyway, so I wanted to share a story I heard a couple of weeks ago.  A young man had been unloading trailers for

about 3 months.  He’d of course been

through his PIT or 29CFR1910.178 course as he’d been using the elect pallet

jack just to run stacked pallets off his trailers and onto the first 35 ft of

the dock, staging them for his receiver. 

He had let his supervisor know that his eventual goal was to become an

order selector for him so his departments leadman had worked with him, making

sure he was getting to practice on the jacks and letting him run a few pallets

every once and a while.  Well, he’d done

a great job and was promoted to that runner position, he was pretty excited, a

position opened up and both his lead and supervisor was excited for him.  We’ve talked a couple of times about how

human nature is our own worst enemy. 

Really, it’s so easy to get over confident, or in a routine, maybe

comfortable is the word I’m looking for. 

As equipment operators we always will have to be familiar with our

surroundings and be cautious.  That means

being focused on the job at hand at all times and following all the safety

rules we’ve been taught!  He had been

running pallets for about 6 weeks and doing a great job.  The Safety manager had cautioned him once

about using his horn when going down the cross aisles and once on another

occasion for not honking when coming out of the aisles onto the front dock

after dropping off his staged pallets. 

Nothing serious, he’d been given a verbal caution the first time and he

had received a written warning the second time. 

On this particular day he was running pallets straight down the aisle

all the way to the back of the warehouse. 

It was a big open area used for some bulk overflow storage.  He had 24 pallets, they were double stacked,

he was using a double pallet jack, so he was carrying 4 at a time.  The safety Manager had seen him up front on

the docks and cautioned him to slow down a little as he was carrying quite a

bit of weight on each haul.  Actually,

the safety manager liked the young man, he liked his enthusiasm and I’m hearing

he would stop him occasionally to give him some pointers, really working with

him.  About half way through his hauling

this particular load the safety manager was in the back area and our young

operator sure enough came out of the aisle into the bulk storage area, never

honked his horn and traveling much to fast, hung a right after clearing the

last bay and saw, you guessed it, the safety manager.  He didn’t lose the load, thank goodness but

he had just made a huge mistake and he knew it. 

The safety manager had no recourse but to remove him from the pallet

jack.  Of course, our young operator

didn’t totally understand.  He admitted

to not honking his horn but stated he knew no one was working back there except

him so it should be overlooked and a warning or write up should have been given

to him.  The Safety Manager had no

problem pointing out that he was back there and really anyone could have been

assigned to haul to that area by any supervisor at any time.  Know, I want to point out that he was removed

from the equipment not for driving a little too fast after being cautioned but

for not using his horn when coming from the aisle and into an open area.  He’d been corrected twice before, at least

twice before, and failed to follow the rule again.    In

our new world of Equipment Operator, we have to follow the rules. We’re being

paid to follow the rules.  We’ve learned

the rules are in place to protect ourselves and our peers or teammates.  The young man was put back on the docks

unloading.  Unfortunately, he ended up

resigning about two weeks later.  I

understand, I really do, but ladies and gentlemen we need to only get upset

with ourselves in these situations. 

We’re taught, or I hope we’re all taught how to be safe and to use our

equipment properly.  I guess we can argue

to any point but in the end, the rules were not followed, and we know what the

consequences are right? I’m happy to report that the young man found another

job, he’s running pallets for another company and I’ve heard he is a rule

following by the book kind of guy now. 

With his experience he was able to land another job and stay on his plan

towards order selecting.  I understand he

really misses his old company, supervisor and especially his previous

leadman.  I think he realizes he’s

starting over now with a new supervisor; he’ll need to show him that he cares

and can do a great job, get him to notice him like his old management did. 

last 2 weeks I’ve heard about two different forklift operators, reach lift

drivers actually, in two different states, both having the same type of

incident.  I intentionally didn’t use the

word accidents because both knew to avoid the situation.  No one was injured but there was damage and

their positions were put at risk over something that never should have

happened.  The first operator was driving

through a fire doorway with his forks raised just above mask height, so his

second tier was too high.  He’d came out

of the aisle and was going to drive through the doorway.  The mask hit to top of the doorway.  The second operator had just placed a pallet

into the reserves and started lowering his forks or carriage.  He pulled out into the cross aisle, started

to proceed down the aisle and his mask hit the cross beam.  Both of these men we’re good operators.  One was very tenured, been driving several

years and the other one had been driving almost a year.  Both knew the rules, lower your forks before

moving from your lift position yet neither adhered to those teachings.  Both were given serious warnings and had to

go through retraining before they could return to work.  There suspensions cost them money and their

actions almost cost them their jobs. 

Human nature again, our own worst enemy. 

They knew it was dangerous, they knew it was not the proper thing to

do.  They got conformable, both in their

surroundings and their abilities.  It’s

preventable ladies and gentlemen.  I know

operators that’s been driving forklifts for over 25 years and they’ve never had

an incident.  They are professionals and

have had some outstanding careers as a fork driver.  Look around your facility, you’ll see that’s

the norm because operators that are not safe, not following the rules, are no

longer forklift drivers.

in many instances it’s one and done. 

It’s just that serious, we’re dealing with expensive product, expensive

equipment and our lives and the lives of others.  There cannot be any wiggle room.  We’re paid for doing the job safely.  Every facility I’ve ever been in has had a

Safety First attitude.  That’s our

responsibility! 

to the story is stay focused, don’t skirt the rules ever.  It’s not worth it.  There are not going to be any excuse that’s

going to get you out of it.  Productivity,

being behind, getting out of everyone’s way etc.  Don’t move that first inch until the lift is

complete, meaning your forks are back on the ground.

operation is fun, its safe and can be our career or a stepping stone in our

plan but we have to accept that responsibility, follow our training, stay

focused and be that professional operator. 

Never give into Human Nature, and never get comfortable in your

abilities.  Always know our surrounding

and be Safe in all we do.

a few of our thoughts, I hope you agreed with our conclusions, and that Safety

is your work culture period.  It’ll pay

off I promise you.  Please send us an

email with any comments or topic suggestions too, we love getting mail!  Until next week, be Safe we’ve all got loved

ones waiting for us at home!