And this is not a question asked by the females amongst us only. I am rather eluding to the good forklift drivers which seem to be getting scarce.
You just need to look at the average state of a forklift to understand that the driver of this machine has collided with many objects over its lifetime. There are not many other vehicles where you would readily accept this many collisions without an investigation(s). If your delivery vehicle (bakkie) was bumped this many times I’m sure that driver would not be in your employ anymore – yet we accept it with our forklifts – which in most cases weigh more than double the bakkie’s weight. Think of the consequences if they collide with a person or racking holding up tons of product – it has the potential for catastrophe.
So what’s the solution? There are multiple ways of addressing this problem – I’ll list a few simplistic ones:
- Hold your drivers accountable – if we did our jobs as shoddy as that, we would not be in our jobs anymore. Let them complete a daily checklist noting all damages. Let someone check that the checklists are completed by the drivers.
- In line with the previous point – make the driver pay for the damages he has caused – it may be the last time he negligently drives a forklift.
- Install a forklift management system – generally working off the mobile phone network. It can log drivers, productivity, whether the engine hood was opened for its daily check and of course collisions.
- Get rid of poor drivers – it may be very difficult to change their style.
We at Elite can assist you with most of the above items because we understand that forklift damages are unnecessary and dangerous. Speak to any one of us – we’d like to help.
