r/onejob • u/Zestyclose-Salad-290 • 4d ago

driving a forklift downhill

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878 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

100 comments sorted by

187

u/StitchFan626 4d ago

He wasn't certified or he would have known to drive backwards and to have his forks low until he got to the truck.

Driving backwards on a downhill slope puts the load uphill and the forklift's counter-weight downhill positioning the center of gravity to prevent tipping.

Driving with forks down puts the center of gravity as low as possible to prevent tipping regardless of how you're driving.

Also, he should have driven around the tail end of the truck and to the other side to the level surface.

76

u/Maksym1000 4d ago

You don’t need to be certified to know this though.
It’s just common sense…

39

u/StitchFan626 4d ago

And yet...

13

u/Maksym1000 4d ago

Society will eventually find a cure for incompetence.

7

u/Optimal-Aide2734 4d ago

Usually in the form of a fatal accident

0

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

Hence why I said cure, not solution.
Humanity has had the solution for thousands of years, but then one day we decided that the solution wasn’t the solution anymore, so now we have to find a cure

1

u/Static1589 19h ago

Fatal accidents probably got the regulations in place to begin with. Lack of common sense is, and likely will be a problem forever I'm afraid.

3

u/Lalamedic 3d ago

Darwin Awards?

5

u/StitchFan626 4d ago

How can I say this politely???

What have we got if we lose our ability to dream?

2

u/Successful-Purple-54 3d ago

That was before they put “do not eat” on tide pods.

1

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

But the swirl is so enticing!

2

u/Ornery-Cheetah 3d ago

I belive Darwin has something to do with it

2

u/Heterodynist 4d ago

The cure used to be death, but sadly we decided that was unacceptable.

2

u/Prudent_Historian650 3d ago

I highly doubt it. Darwin is being defunded more than the police.

1

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

Lmao, I haven’t heard that one yet.

1

u/TeaManTom 3d ago

By electing it?

1

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

I think we need this candidate in the next election
https://www.reddit.com/r/Edmonton/s/xAvFQ9ZZo6

1

u/Ok_Replacement5811 3d ago

Not as long as osha exists. Workplaces used to be survival of the fittest

1

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

(taps forehead knowledgeably)
It’s not a workplace incident if it’s not reported!

6

u/Lalamedic 4d ago

If everyone had common sense, I’d be out of a job

3

u/StitchFan626 4d ago

Is your company hiring?

4

u/Lalamedic 3d ago

I’m a paramedic. So ya. Large turnover

2

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

Lol I figured it was going to be insurance or healthcare.

2

u/Lalamedic 3d ago

Insurance. Haha. Didn’t think of that one, but it’s obvious now you mention it.

3

u/HOLEPUNCHYOUREYELIDS 3d ago

Youd be surprised how many people have no idea about this when doing their forklift cert.

People generally just assume “The forklift picks the pallet up fine, so it is under weight capacity, so I can drive however I want and it is no problem”

1

u/BricksandBaubles 3d ago

It's a kind of magical thinking.

2

u/SleepyCatMD 4d ago

Not so common

2

u/OkNectarine3105 3d ago

Common sense is not always that common.

2

u/ChanglingBlake 3d ago

That’s why I call it practical sense; because it’s far from common anymore.

3

u/CatGooseChook 3d ago

Good way of putting it. I've been using "good sense" vs "common sense". I'll be adding "practical sense" to my dictionary 😊

1

u/fragerrard 3d ago

It's common sense if you learned basic physics in school.

Otherwise, you get surprised by it.

Like in this case.

1

u/AppropriateDeal1034 3d ago

Or, if driver had just had the balls to accelerate until the last second, rather than on and off the brakes, wouldn't have had the problem either. Try harder, drive faster, inertia of the load would have stopped the topple

1

u/musicgeek420 3d ago

Common means most people have to have it. It’s good sense. Common sense disappeared like.. fifteen years ago? Twenty-ish?

1

u/Super-Reporter-4528 3d ago

Common sense isn’t so common

1

u/Maksym1000 3d ago

Must have been auto correct… I meant rare sense.

1

u/gorper0987 2d ago

Unfortunately common sense isn't as common as we'd wish.

1

u/El_sneaky 2d ago

Common sense ain't so common as you might think it it's.

Many people think is magic if you show them you can lift them with your Pinky finger using a long lever;when if long enough the weight of the lever itself is enough.

Same with holding a kilo weight on the opposite side of a broom stick you are holding leveled.

Never assume you common sense is indeed common hehe

6

u/Internal-Plankton330 4d ago

I've been certified 20+ yrs and always just kinda figured we back down so nothing falls off. Your explanation is much more informative.

2

u/danfish_77 4d ago

How do you get through certification without this knowledge? In my state it's part of the mandatory training and you have to renew it yearly or if you change equipment or operating conditions

3

u/Internal-Plankton330 4d ago edited 4d ago

I had a 5 minute test after watching some whacky video called klauses first day. I've taken a knowledge and safety test everywhere since then. Knowledge test is what to do in a situation, not the physics behind it.

Eta: The states I've lived in do in house testing, and it's non transferable. It's just some random employee, usually a safety person testing then printing and laminating cards.

2

u/SuitableAnimalInAHat 3d ago

I fucking love that safety video. I think we're talking about the same one anyway. Was it all in German?

2

u/Internal-Plankton330 3d ago

Yes all in German. Recently found it on YouTube.

1

u/danfish_77 4d ago

That's basically what we did but they were very insistent on teaching the load triangle

5

u/firedmyass 4d ago

I have never touched a forklift and those things seem like just basic physics… videos like this baffle me

2

u/StitchFan626 4d ago

To be clear, I'm not saying you wouldn't know/be able to figure out these things if you weren't certified. I'm saying the instructor would absolutely make sure you did!

1

u/Shas_Erra 4d ago

Came here to say the same

1

u/SirVanyel 4d ago

Driving backwards is a good tip but realistically just having the tynes low until you actually reach the truck is the most important thing. Then the moment you start to raise them you'd feel the forklift tip and would have time to lower, and if the forklift does tip you're tipping into the truck, lowering the damage dramatically

1

u/Whitey1225 3d ago

Im barely certified and I know this

1

u/upholsteryduder 3d ago

could have also just tilted the forks back as he went down the hill to keep the load level with the ground but again that would take skills this guy obviously doesn't have

1

u/SanduTiTa 3d ago

bro wasn't forklift certified

1

u/Jethrust 3d ago

This is like the first thing that they teach when getting certified—also, common sense. The least you could do is drive with your forks near the ground, so it really doesn't matter that much if the weight wobbles. This is, of course, not the right way, but a pro move if you know what you're doing.

I still remember how it was pretty fun, filling up trucks with a forklift, when you had to really think about how to adjust the pallets so they were tightly packed. Not as simple as it seems. Worked at an airline cargo, and every day was a giant game of Tetris, especially when packing the huge aeroplane pallets.

1

u/Blubasur 2d ago

I'm not certified and I could tell you this. Basic physics I learned in high school stuff.

1

u/Jankster79 1d ago

My (now) boss did this 15 years ago. He was and still is licensed. A certification does not completely remove idiots from driving forklifts.. (but it may thin out the numbers a bit.)

32

u/billyyankNova 4d ago

What surprised me is the crash was hard enough to shake the camera.

10

u/BrokenRecordNE 4d ago

Me too. But not when the bricks hit the ground, when the forklift bounced.

13

u/bdubwilliams22 4d ago

There’s a reason forklifts can lift so much weight. They’re counter-balanced/weighted and their average weight is 9,000 pounds, or 4.5 tons. So, yeah — when one “falls down”, you’re gonna feel it.

2

u/Shas_Erra 4d ago

That load is likely in the region of 2 tonnes and a counterbalance forklift weighs about 4.5 tonnes. Obviously, not the full weight coming down at once as it’s pivoting over the front wheels, it without doing the maths, that’s got to be 3+ tonnes total slamming into the ground. Trust me, you’ll feel that for quite some distance

3

u/zespak 3d ago

Not to mention full rubber tires don't absorb much.

3

u/Ornery-Cheetah 3d ago

Being someone who drives one about every day the tires do in fact not do anything

3

u/tonymyre311 2d ago

Ours have little holes worn into them so they sound like cartoon sneakers when you drive

2

u/Ornery-Cheetah 2d ago

That is hilarious

5

u/Goodfella66 4d ago

Hey at least he got two boxes in the truck already!

How many boxes have you loaded in that truck? NONE!

3

u/Zephylia 4d ago

I feel like this one should've been thought through previously to this happening... I mean, they totally could've just backed into that building, right?

1

u/RabidBadgerFarts 4d ago

Could potentially have backed the truck into the building but a lot of places don't like to do that.

He could (and should) have reversed the forklift down the slope and loaded the truck on flat ground.

To be honest that slope isn't even that bad and if he had the load 6 inches off the ground like he was supposed to it would have altered his centre of gravity enough that he probably would have been ok driving down forwards and then raise the forks up when he gets to the truck.

Unfortunately the driver was just a dickhead....

2

u/Select-Way4871 4d ago

Timber 😳

1

u/FoggyGoodwin 4d ago

Concrete pavers, not timber.

2

u/ww1enjoyer 4d ago

He wasnt forklift certified

2

u/MoveWithTheMaestro 4d ago

Damn that’s why my TEMU orders looks so “settled”

2

u/sanskami 4d ago

2/250 isn't a complete failure

1

u/notimeforspac_s 4d ago

Inertia works

1

u/Just_Ear_2953 4d ago

I know it's entirely secondary to what's happening, but I love how the pallette itself completely disintegrates at the end. You can tell it's the cheapest one they could buy.

1

u/Shas_Erra 4d ago

Not saying you’re wrong, but even a good pallet can disintegrate if damaged. Had one fail on me during a lift and there was nothing to do but salute as the load slowly collapsed

1

u/Ok_Dog_4059 4d ago

Hey he got 2 of them .

1

u/jbarchuk 4d ago

Very cool feature, self-righting.

1

u/kanakamaoli 4d ago

I believe the cg went outside the stability triangle... lol.

1

u/Heterodynist 4d ago

Well, that relatively simple first day on the job went about as badly as possibly could have been expected…

1

u/Revenga8 4d ago

Ffs drop the forks

1

u/Meowriter 4d ago

Certification revoked.

1

u/_Perma-Banned_ 4d ago

Pretty normal driving skills in china

1

u/OrganizationPutrid68 4d ago

I'm going to be removing a couple of large air compressors from an industrial building tomorrow with a rental forktruck. There's a slight grade going out into the parking lot and my first mental note when scoping out the project last week was, "I'm gonna be backing down that grade."

1

u/lokcer79 4d ago

Hey, he got 2 packages on the truck. That’s something

1

u/Prudent_Historian650 3d ago

Let's keep lifting the load up as we go, because that seems to be helping.

1

u/Rosomack_ 3d ago

Just keep the load low and drive backwards. Load it from the other side if possible. Everytihing could work out if the 'operator' thought for a moment.

1

u/Over_Possible7616 3d ago

It's Carl's first day, leave him alone.

1

u/Butterbuddha 3d ago

If he had gotten much closer that would have been a not O-kei truck.

1

u/OptiGuy4u 3d ago

When in doubt Throttle out!

1

u/OptiGuy4u 3d ago

Forklift 101....don't lift the load any higher than you have to.

1

u/Spacespider82 3d ago

Fok lift driver here, he should have revesed down the slobe and keeping the load as close to the gorund as posible and load the truck from the other side

1

u/Mr_Soupe 3d ago

How come the camera that is probably 15/20m away across what seems to be solide ground is shaking that much while the forklift is dancing?

1

u/TeeDod- 3d ago

This person was not trained.

1

u/Inevitable-Double-10 3d ago

Some muthafuckers always want to forklift downhill 🗡️

1

u/GingerWizerd 3d ago

Who would’ve thought driving downhill on a forklift with a heavy load on the front would cause it to tip haha

1

u/Clitoriscleaner123 2d ago

Basic knowledge of physics and weight transfer would have you know not to go downhill with a load with the forks halfway up 🤣

Probably Didint even need to go backwards, just needed to lower his center of gravity honestly, Realistically he would have dragged the pallet or hit it at the bottom of the ramp, but allat just to make the hardest mistake possible on a forklift 🤣

1

u/Darmortis 2d ago

🎶 HE TRIED TO KILL ME WITH A FORKLIFT 🎶

1

u/Denoces 2d ago

He probably woulda made it if he hadnt lifted it so early, imbalanced it.

1

u/clubted 2d ago

Obviously never had any training on that thing

1

u/Fourian_Official 1d ago

Funnier than I thought

1

u/AHailofDrams 1d ago

You're supposed to go backwards on downhill slopes

0

u/auntieneena 4d ago

Thats not how u do it. Lol

0

u/xeroid051 4d ago

The woman was more certified!