One area where many companies fail to maintain OSHA compliance is with forklift certification training. If you have employees who operate forklifts in your workplace, you are required by OSHA to provide forklift certification training to them. All operators, even those who only operate forklifts occasionally, must be certified. Not only that, but OSHA has certain requirements for what the training must include and how often training must be repeated. Use the self-audit questions below to determine if your forklift certification program is in compliance.

  1. Have all of your forklift operators been certified in the last three years ?
  2. Can you effectively demonstrate that during certification training all information was covered per the OSHA standard (29 CFR § 1910.178 (I))?
    1. Training must be formal and include a practical application and a final evaluation.
  3. Have you documented when the training was completed?
  4. Have all forklift operators been evaluated (observed and documented operating the equipment safely) on all industrial trucks/forklifts at your facility?
  5. Have you retrained operators that:
    1. Have been observed operating the forklift unsafely?
    2. Have been involved in an accident or near-miss?
    3. Will be operating a different type/class of forklift?
    4. Will be working in an environment where the condition of the workplace changes in a manner that could impact safe operations?

If you answered no to any of these questions, your operators need to be re-certified. Contact Helpside Safety Director Josh Hancey for help getting your forklift certificate training program in compliance. He can be reached at (801) 362-1634 or jhancey@helpside.com. Or you can visit helpside.com/forklift-certification to learn more about available options and schedule a class.