In my days of working on Fishing Boats I spent a LOT of time in fish packing houses which are LOADED with forklifts and powered pallet jacks. Things can get pretty scary at times!
Two men were killed Wednesday night, crushed by an unmanned forklift while working inside a truck at a Dallas plastics company….Evans said he had no information on what may have caused the forklift to roll into the men, but that investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would be looking into the incident.
Yikes, the MANNED ones are scary enough, when they’re Unmanned, that’s super scary! Hey, but maybe I’m just phobic, as only guns are scary, right?
h/t Bob
The antis will say you’re phobic, but I’ll back you up on this one.
Forklifts are … interesting devices. For those that don’t know, they’re 3-wheeled vehicles, and the steering linkage connects to the single back wheel. Ever tried to drive a car fast in reverse? Feel how unstable that is? Yeah. There’s a good, physics-based reason cars’ steering is on the front axle.
When a forklift is carrying a load, it’s very top-front-heavy. Going up an incline can be done “forward”, but going down requires the operator to do a 180 and drive “backward” – to avoid tipping forward. Don’t be anywhere near it when it’s doing that 180.
Compared to firearms, there’s more injuries, but fewer fatalities. Note that there are far fewer incidents in the “dangerous” professions like mining and construction, and more in “safer” industries like manufacturing and trade.
Also note the recommendation for reducing accidents: more and better training (i.e.: education and practice). NOT creating a fully registry of forklifts, NOT blacklisting their owners, and NOT calling for wholesale bans. The most dangerous component of a forklift is an untrained user, and the answer is better training. Interesting, no?
Skynet has become self-aware.