Abstract: At approximately 3:00 p.m. on July 24, 2008, Employee #1, a trainee, was operating a Raymond 640 Counterbalance Stand-up forklift, Serial Number SH-52, in a warehouse loading dock area. Employee #1 was backing out of a docked trailer, while sitting in an operator's compartment. The compartment measured 1.5 square ft. Upon investigation, when the forklift was in reverse, Employee #1 positioned her body sideways in the operator's compartment, so that her body was parallel with the forks and her feet were perpendicular to the, so called, dead man switch. In order to slow down the forklift, Employee #1 approached a tiered racking system by lifting her right foot off the dead man switch. Her foot slipped off the switch. When she reapplied her foot to the dead man switch, the forklift jerked. Employee #1 lost her balance and her left foot extended outside the operator's compartment. Employee #1 panicked and was unable to raise her left foot in time. Employee #1's left foot was pinned and crushed between the forklift and racking system. Employee #1 fractured her first two toes and sustained multiple contusions to the remaining three toes. Employee #1 was hospitalized. The forklift was tested, and the results of the test indicated that the brakes were not defective and the forklift steering was working properly. The last documented preventive maintenance performed on the forklift, that the trainee was operating, was a month prior to the accident. Employee #1 stated that during her daily inspection of the forklift, on the day of the accident, she found the safety light wasn't working.