maintenance handling l
In this month’s Fact File column from the Fork Lift Truck Association, the focus is on maintenance and its role in safety, productivity and staying on the right side of the law.
Taking care of business D
uring times of economic downturn it’s tempting to cut back everywhere you can – including routine care for your fork lift truck. Neglecting truck maintenance can have serious consequences including breakdowns and subsequent unscheduled and costly stoppages to the work process. Worse yet, it can lead to serious accidents as well as putting you on the wrong side of the law.
Legislation
Regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER 98) states: “Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.”
Primarily, this ensures that equipment is safe, but the state of maintenance has implications for productivity.
Pre-shift checks
A sound system of daily or pre-shift checks is the cornerstone of good maintenance. This ensures that essential fluids are kept topped up and potential defects are identified before
they become a problem.
Daily checks should be completed by fork lift truck operators at the start of their working day, or shift. These should be carried out properly and recorded formally.
Operators will be looking at a range of items, such as: • faults from the previous day; • obvious leaks; • fluid levels; • damage to vital components. This is by no means an exhaustive list. For further guidance on the items which your pre-shift checks could cover, refer to guidance from your truck’s manufacturer or fork lift truck dealer. Importantly, if a fault affecting safety is discovered, a truck should not be used until it has been rectified.
Preventative maintenance Rather than waiting for a fault to occur, a programme of planned preventative maintenance should be followed. If you use hired fork lift trucks, you must allow your hire company regular access for this purpose.
This should be scheduled in accordance with the
recommendations of the manufacturer of your equipment. Guidance on this
Cleaning
Many fork lift trucks operate in clean, dry areas, meaning they require little cleaning, if any. Special attention, however, is required for trucks at risk from contaminants which can cause premature failure. These include applications involving: • Loads which shed fibres or grains; • Dusty or muddy environments; • Corrosive materials;
Keeping your truck clean will reduce this risk, however,
inappropriate cleaning may make the problem worse. Considerations include: • Chains need to retain their lubrication: do not steam clean or power wash;
• Sidewalls of pneumatic tyres can be weakened by high pressure water – particularly when heated – and strong soaps;
• Bearings, seals, gaiters and anything electrical are not designed for close contact with high pressure or steam equipment;
• Hard-setting or corrosive substances should be washed off immediately after contact. ●
www.fork-truck.org.uk
Free fact sheet
Free fact sheets covering this topic, alongside a host of others answering common fork lift truck queries, can be downloaded at
www.fork-truck.org.uk/fact-sheets. The inspection documents section of the website ‘shop’ has an inexpensive Daily Check book which is ideal for recording pre-shift checks.
www.PressOnShD.com January 2012 ShD 19
can be provided by the fork lift truck dealer who provided the equipment. The time interval between services will vary according to the application’s intensity and working environment. For maintenance purposes, fork lift trucks are regarded as ‘plant’. Accordingly, time intervals are recorded in hours, but your dealer will translate this into months to help you identify dates for planned maintenance.
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