Safety first with the Linde Reach Trucks

 

As if there weren’t enough solid reasons to buy Linde Reach Trucks over pantograph-style competitors, consider the safety factor. Linde R-Series Mobile Mast Reach Trucks have three independent braking systems. You have exclusive hydraulically actuated shoe brakes on the drive wheel as well as both load wheels, an electric parking brake operating on the drive motor armature shaft which is automatically applied when the operator leaves the seat, and lastly you have electric regenerative braking upon accelerator pedal release. However, perhaps the biggest safety component is our operator compartment.

After a fatal reach truck accident in 2003, the University of Iowa’s Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program issued the following two recommendations: 1. “Operators of industrial forklifts should always be diligent to face the direction of travel, mindful of their exposure to warehouse hazards that could enter their workstation”, 2. “Manufacturers of stand-up reach forklifts should include vertical framing or posts at the rear corners of their machines, from the operator’s console to the overhead guard, to protect the operator from horizontal components entering the operator’s station.”. These recommendations are both facilitated and satisfied with Linde’s Reach Truck chassis design. However, almost 6 years after this fatal incident, our two primary reach truck competitors have not changed anything about the design of their operator compartments to address the recommendations listed above. With their machines, the circumstances surrounding this fatal accident could just as easily happen tomorrow as they did 6 years ago. Don’t ignore the all-important “Safety Factor” when proposing reach trucks to your warehouse operators.