Skip Navigation

Course 725 - Forklift Safety

1    2    3    4    5    6    7    Course Homepage     Final Exam      Contact Instructor     Website Homepage
Safety guides and audits to make your job as a safety professional easier

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to the course. If you are a safety manager, supervisor, committee member, or someone who is entering into the occupational safety and health field, this course will help you understand your important responsibilities.

Here's how it works (Read this... it's important!)

  1. Study each course module. Just click on the course "Modules" tab above to get started. It takes about 30 minutes to one hour to complete each module, including the quiz.
  2. Complete each module quiz. Each quiz is 5 questions. When you submit the quiz, a new web page will load with instant feedback on your answers. After you complete the quiz, start on the next module. There is no need to wait! No hurry either. You are in control of the pace of learning.

    3. If you have questions as you study, just send us an email.

    Course 725 Certificate
    Frame not included.
  3. Order an Optional Certificate. If you want certification of your training, order a high quality certificate. Our training is free. We only charge a small fee to provide documentation of your training. If you are enrolled in one of our professional safety and health programs, you can save money by purchasing the program package that fits your needs. If you just want to purchase the certificate for this course, a link will be provided on your student dashboard after you pass the final exam. Just click on the "Purchase Certificate" Link.

    For individual courses, the PDF certificate is only $, the original certificate is $ (shipping extra), and the PDF & original certificate is $ (shipping extra).
  4. Complete and submit the final course exam.
    • Final exams consist of 35 questions.
    • To meet OSHA requirements, you must pass the final exam with at least a 70% score.
    • If you do not pass the exam, you may retake the exam.
    • If you pass the exam, you may not retake the exam just to raise your score.
    • Most final exam questions are derived from module quizzes.

OK, Let's go!

Have fun and study hard. To start, just click on "Introduction" above.

Course Introduction

forklift
Forklift at work during WWII

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) defines a powered industrial truck as a mobile power-propelled truck used to carry, push, pull, lift, stack or tier materials. The basic reference for the safe operation of Powered Industrial Trucks (PITs) is ANSI/ASME B56.1-1993.

Powered industrial trucks, often called forklifts or lift trucks, can be ridden or controlled by a walking operator. As you can see in the photo at the right, forklifts have been around a long time and they’ve gone through some significant design improvements.

A powered industrial truck is defined as a fork truck, tractor, platform lift truck, motorized hand truck, and other specialized industrial trucks powered by electric motors or internal combustion engines. This course does not include safety regarding compressed air or nonflammable compressed gas-operated industrial trucks, farm vehicles, vehicles intended primarily for earth moving, or over-the-road hauling.

incidents
Forklift Accidents
Click to Enlarge

Every year nearly 100 workers are killed and 20,000 are seriously injured in forklift mishaps. The top four types of incidents as a percent of the total forklift related deaths are:

This course contains general information about:

  • the kinds of forklifts commonly available
  • the principles of physics that allow a forklift to lift and move heavy loads safely
  • forklift operator training requirements
  • some basic operator safety rules
  • hazardous locations where carbon monoxide is a problem or a special forklift is needed
  • safety while servicing a forklift

This course is not designed to be a substitute for operator training in the operation of specific forklifts in a specific workplace as required by OSHA regulations.

Modules

To begin your training, click on the module links below. If you are just starting this course, you should start with module 1.

  1. Types of Powered Industrial Trucks (PITs) - Forklifts
  2. Operator Training
  3. How a Forklift Works
  4. Safe Forklift Operations
  5. Safe Forklift Operations (Continued)
  6. Forklift Maintenance
  7. Forklift Maintenance (Continued)

Course 725 Final Exam

OSHAcademy course final exams are designed to help ensure students demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the content covered within each course. To help demonstrate this understanding, students must achieve a minimum score of 70% on final exams. It is OSHAcademy's policy to protect the integrity of our exams and, as a result, we do not provide missed questions to students.

After you have studied all of the course material and taken the module quizzes, you can take the final exam. The module quizzes are optional, but we highly recommend you take each quiz, as the questions are similar to those on the final exam.

This is an open book exam. As you are taking the exam, if you find a question you are unsure of, you should use the course study guide or course web pages to research the correct answer. Don't worry if you fail the exam. You can study and retake the exam when you are ready.

If you have already paid for a Certificate Program

If you have already paid for your certificates, your exam score will be displayed in your student dashboard next to the course. You will also be able to view or print the course PDF certificate if you purchased this option. Your PDF transcript will also be automatically updated to include the course.

If you only want free training

You are welcome to take all of our courses for free! We only charge a fee if you want certificates, transcripts and exam scores to document your training. If you have not made a payment for your certificate, we will archive your exam results and you will see "Completed!" next to the course if you passed the exam. If you did not pass the exam with a score of 70% or higher, you will need to retake the exam.

Take the Final Exam

Take the Final Exam

Course 725 Study Guide. You can save this study guide to your computer for offline studying, or print the study guide if you prefer.

Endnotes

1. 29 CFR 1910.178, Powered Industrial Trucks, OSHA. (2014). Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9828&p_text_version=FALSE#1910.178%28l%29

2. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2014a). Powered Industrial Trucks (Forklift) eTool. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/pit/index.html

3. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2002). Forklift Safety, OR-OSHA. Retrieved from: http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/osha/educate/materials/Forklift-Safety-251/1-251w.pdf

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Ergonomics and Cumulative Trauma Injuries: The Basics. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/dte/grant_materials/fy10/sh-20998-10/Housekeeper_Ergo_Handout-English.pdf

5. Washington DOSH, Washington DOSH Publication F417-031-000. (2007). Forklift Safety Guide. Retrieved from: http://www.lni.wa.gov/IPUB/417-031-000.pdf