Top Ten Forklift Moments

[comfortably numb]

[NoviVespa]

Interesting. Thanks!

[indyracefan]

My first job in Dallas working construction was a lift-operator for Associated Builders, an apartment building company out of Ft. Worth in 1984. I was 20 at the time working in Euless, Bear Creek apartments if anyone knows where that is...right near DFW as I could see the planes taking off & landing all day.

Anyway they had me on a Lull 844 that wasn't in the greatest shape. I had the out-riggers down and the boom extended all the way out. I was in the process of sliding the carriage all the way to the front to land a bundle of particle-board on a roof to be decked. Just as I was about to land the load on the jacks up on the trusses, one of the out-riggers blew a hydraulic line T-coupling. The whole front end of the Lull fell to that side and the Lull then fell forward due to the weight of the plywood. The forks of the lift and the load of plywood went crashing through the trusses onto the second-floor and the lift had it's rear wheels totally off the ground due to the off-balance weight tilting the lift forward. It was ugly but not my fault.

The Lull I was on;


how they look fully extended, only this one doesn't have the carriage extended all the way to the front;

[Coyote]

Holy cow! Those are unbeeLLEEEEvable. The one where they took down an entire rack with the load of what looks like plywood, the driver sure moves fast in his bailout, he was out and running as soon as he knocked the leg out. I thought he was a gone-er when he slipped and fell, or dove or whatever that was.

One time in a factory where I worked in the summer I saw the plant manager (who had been one of the first employees of the company, way back in the 50s) walking past - really MAD! I walked over a bit to look at the loading dock where he had come from and saw a forklift with the rear part still on the dock, but the front on the ground with the front of the forks bent at about a 60 degree angle.

Turns out one hot shot had been trying to show how fast he could load the truck and the manager warned him about not looking before he whirled around the corner into the truck. Later, the kid did it again. But this time they had pulled the truck away because it was full and hadn't yet backed the next one in. Kid whirled around the corner right off the loading dock.

[CARTer]

Number 5 is ugly - you can see his hard hat fall off before he hits the ground. I hope that guy was ok.

[jm70]

I got busted for speeding on the street in a fork lift. It was at Tan Son Nhut AB in Vietnam in 1966. The AP didn't like my WFO style, I guess, and the brakes were almost nothing.

[JMFVET]

Worst I have personally seen was a soldier running a lift into the tail of a C-27. Very minor damage to the aircraft but it left us stuck in the jungle for an extra nite, and I think the USAF Crew Chief had a "talk" with the US Army PFC behind the barracks.

[exfasteddy]

Forklifts can be nasty, I've had a couple jobs in my distant past driving forklifts. At one, among other things, I had to place pallets of 4x8 sheetmetal on racks about 20' high. All it would take was one to slide off and it could cut you in two. I told them they didn't pay me enough for that risk. Surprisingly they agreed, and I didn't have to anymore.

[Snow61]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mY4K9aC8BU

[indybigjohn]

In 1960, when I was 21 and just out of the service, I had a job working with a company that made emulsifiers for the baking industry. One of our jobs was to stack 400-lb. barrels of the stuff, three on a pallet. When we got up to four pallets high, I told them I was done with it. You were sitting there, before roll bars on fork lifts, with 1200 pounds on a pallet at the very top of the lift's range, trying to ease it in over the third level. VERY unsettling.

I felt much more comfortable flagging from the track.

[Frank Capua]

In 1960, when I was 21 and just out of the service, I had a job working with a company that made emulsifiers for the baking industry. One of our jobs was to stack 400-lb. barrels of the stuff, three on a pallet. When we got up to four pallets high, I told them I was done with it. You were sitting there, before roll bars on fork lifts, with 1200 pounds on a pallet at the very top of the lift's range, trying to ease it in over the third level. VERY unsettling.

I felt much more comfortable flagging from the track.

Yeah those damn Unions messed it all up... You can't do it old skool no mo.

[Joe in LA]

My favorite disaster waiting to happen:

[JMFVET]

Joe, That has to be faked. I hope! If not, I hope none of those guys manage to reproduce. The expression too dumb to live comes to mind.

[Joe in LA]

Joe, That has to be faked. I hope! If not, I hope none of those guys manage to reproduce. The expression too dumb to live comes to mind.

I alwasy assumed it was a photoshop--but its a good one. If it isn't a photoshop they are some of the dumbest folks I've seen.

[Frank Capua]

My favorite disaster waiting to happen:

I wanna be the guy between the two forks...