Recording Forklift Hours - is it necessary?
I have a question regarding recording the hours of use on a forklift.
On all Daily Forklift Inspection Forms I have seen, there is a column to record the hours of use. Recently, our meter on one of our forklifts stopped working, and it made me wonder if this is even necessary to record.
We have 2 forklifts at the facility. Both of them get minimally used as we only work an 8 hour shift and don't have a big crew. I would say the total time spent on each forklift a day is about an hour at most.
We don't go by hours of use for our Preventative Maintenance Schedule since they are only sporadically used, so I'm hoping we can get by with not replacing the meter.
Does anyone know of any other reason to record the Forklift hours besides for Preventative Maintenance Frequency?
Do other facilities record this? What do you use this information for?
There really isn't any food safety/quality reason why you need a hours of use timer on a forklift. That's more for maintenance scheduling and things of that manner. A forklift isn't a piece of food safety/quality equipment like a metal detector is.
You need it to move stuff around... but if it breaks your product isn't going to be unsafe just because of that... you'll just have to move stuff around with a different fork truck or hand truck.
Yes, I agree that it doesn't serve a food safety purpose directly, but has any auditor ever asked to see the hours of use log to verify that the PM program is at adequate frequency?
The auditors I've walk around with were just happy to see that it wasn't leaking anything and that it was clean. You should have a daily operating inspection tag for operators to note that there are no leaks blah blah blah. And maybe a weekly or monthly maintenance inspection. With those documents, a clean non-leaky fork truck, etc you should be fine.
I've never seen them ask about how many hours it's been used... they care about things that will adulterate the product - IE leaks.
Make sure you have an MSDS for the battery acid (this is not a joke... and I'm assuming you use a battery powered fork truck)
I would agree with what was said above. Besides an MSDS, a battery spill kit sized for a forklift is a good thing.
IMEX.. auditor never ask how many hour we used forklift.. they just see any potential hazard from forklift ex. lamp must be covered by palstic film or made by tempered glass etc.
rgds
AS Nur
Non food safety related, but does OSHA require the hours be recorded?
Non food safety related, but does OSHA require the hours be recorded?
I looked into this HappyCoin but couldn't find anything that specifically said hours had to be recorded. If anyone knows, please share.
Auditors love to check that as evidence your GMP plan isn't working.
S
I would also recommend that IF there are pen, pencil holders on the forklifts, or ANY little cubby hole, please check it often for contraband wrappers from cough drops, candy or GUM <dum dum DUM!>
Auditors love to check that as evidence your GMP plan isn't working.
S
Oooh good one.
Yeah...LFMF Learn from my Fail. :D
And I thought LFMF was my exclusive domain. :rofl2: