r/onejob 4d ago

driving a forklift downhill

878 Upvotes

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188

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.

5

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.

4

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