A forklift operator at a pallet-manufacturing company was fatally injured when he was crushed under a fallen forklift.

The victim was not wearing a seat belt. He was driving an 8,600-pound (3,900 kilogram) forklift to move materials into a drive-in waste dumpster at a loading dock. After dumping the materials, he was backing out of the dumpster when he backed off the side of the loading dock, falling nearly four feet (1.2 meters) to the asphalt. The victim was partly thrown out, and his hip and leg were crushed under the forklift’s rollover cage. He died at hospital nine days later.

A seat belt would have secured this worker to the seat and prevented him from being crushed under the rollover cage. Always wear a seat belt while running a forklift or other industrial truck.

Consider the use of safety curbs and railings around outdoor loading docks.