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 This guideline reason is to explain the Regulation requirements for the application of operator restraints or seatbelts on lift trucks. It is the employers' liability to ensure that every machinery, piece of equipment and tool in the workplace is selected and utilized properly and worked according to the manufacturer's directions.
Rough Terrain lift trucks must meet the regulations of ANSI Standard ASME B56.6-1992 in regards to their maintenance, inspection, fabrication, use and design.
Side boom tractors and mobile machine with a Rollover Protective Structure, or ROPS for short, must contain seat belts that meet the requirements of the Society of Automotive Engineers, or SAE, Standard J386 JUN93, Operator Restraint System for Off-Road Work Machines. If any mobile equipment has seat belts required by law, the operator and subsequent passengers ought to make sure they use the belts each time the vehicle is in motion or engaged in operation because this could cause the equipment to become unstable and therefore, not safe.
If a seat belt or various driver restraint is required on a lift truck.
The seat belt requirements while operating a lift truck depend on various factors. Whether or not the forklift is outfitted together with a Rollover Protective Structure, the kind of forklift itself and the year the forklift was actually manufactured all contribute to this determination. The manufacturer's directions and the requirements of the applicable standard are referenced in the Regulation.
With regards to to an operator restraint device, system or enclosure, ANSI Standard ASME B56.1-1993 in the case of powered industrial trucks, is designed to help the operator in lowering the risk of entrapment of the torso and/or head between the truck and the ground in the event of a tip over. The restraint device or system might comprise a seat belt, even if a seat belt is not necessarily a part of such machine or system.
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