Forklift Controls
Inside any warehouse environment, amongst the most common machinery is a lift truck or forklift. These versatile machinery are comprised of a vehicle with two pronged forks at the front that could haul and carry bulky items.
The standard forklift is built to function and move in small spaces and is able to lift items to and from high up places. Lift trucks are still extremely dangerous equipment and should be operated safely at all times, after correct training and certification has taken place.
When new to a lift truck, make time to read the owner's guidebook and be familiar with the controls. Be sure to take note of the location of each particular control and what specific feature it functions. The majority of lift trucks have two levers that control the forks. The first lever controls the fork height. In order to make the forks go down, the lever must be pushed forward. To be able to move the forks upwards, you simply pull back on the lever.
The forklift's second lever is utilized to tilt the forks allowing for better distribution of weight across the forklift. This tilting action helps to keep things stable and won't allow things to fall off when driving. Additionally, it helps things slide off when unloading in a more balanced way.
By pulling the second lever back, the forks will tilt back, when pushing the lever forward would tilt the forks forward. Several types of forklifts are equipped with a third lever which controls the fork width. Each one of these levers is located just to the right of the driver's seat.
Before using the forklift, sit inside of it and go over what the controls do with a qualified coworker. Be sure to do this while the forklift is turned off and not being utilized. Ask the qualified expert if you have any questions about how something functions.
Observation is normally the best way to learn new forklift skills. So make time to observe a coworker showing the function of every control. On hydrostatic lift trucks, notice that in order to make the machinery go, you use the gas. And if you want to make it stop, you just release the gas pedal. There is no brake on these types of lift trucks. There are some hydrostatic models which are equipped with battery powered engines which turn off when the gas pedal is released. They start up once the gas pedal is pushed again.