Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: UNAPEQUIP

North Carolina General Statute 95-129(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of North Carolina: The employer did not furnish each of his employees conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to: a)Facility - the Hyster and Allis Chalmers forklifts used for materials handling purposes were equipped with rollover protection, however the forklifts were not equipped with seatbelts. There were seatbelt retrofit kits available for the forklifts. REFERENCE: ASME B56.1-1993, Part II, Paragraph 5.3.19, Operating Safety Rules and Practices, Traveling. An active operator protection device or system, when provided, shall be used. Operator protection in the event of tipover is intended to reduce the risk of entrapment of the head and torso between the truck and the ground but may not protect the operator against all possible injury (see para. 7.2.2). REFERENCE: OSHA Standard Interpretation: Enforcement of the Use of Seat Belts on Powered Industrial Trucks in General Industry, 10/09/1996. NOTE: Among other methods of abatement, one feasible and acceptable method to correct this hazard is to retrofit the forklifts with seatbelts, then require all employees to wear the seatbelts during forklift operations.