Forklift Attachments Effect Load Capacity

Your forklift is rated for a specific maximum load capacity. If you don’t already know what it is, you can easily find the maximum load capacity for your specific vehicle because it will be listed on a plate installed in a highly visible area — usually on the mast at eye level to the driver.

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The maximum load capacity is the highest weight your forklift can lift safely. When you attempt to lift a payload that is higher than your rated maximum lift capacity, while your vehicle may be able to do it — at least briefly — it won’t be safe and it could put the driver and pedestrians in the area at risk if there is a failure.

It may also damage your forklift’s motor, hydraulics, and other costly parts.

Forklift Attachments and Load Capacity

Using forklift attachments will affect the maximum load capacity of your forklift. While attachments will never increase the highest possible weight your vehicle can lift, they often will decrease it.

This has to do with engineering and physics. Lifting a load without an attachment with just the forks is what the vehicle was designed to do. But when you add something like a boom attachment, a lift platform, a carpet pole, or another type of attachment, not only is there the added weight of the attachment itself, but you are also changing the way the payload is being lifted.

Before you use an attachment, it is critical that you and forklift operators understand how it will affect the maximum load capacity of your vehicle. Trying to lift too much weight with your forklift attachment can put the attachment, the vehicle, and your driver in danger.

To understand how a forklift attachment will affect the maximum load capacity of your forklift, check the spec sheet for the attachment, the owner’s manual for the attachment and the forklift itself, or the manufacturer’s website.

Maximum Weight Capacity Tips

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Generally, it’s a good idea to buy or lease a forklift with a maximum load capacity that is higher than the biggest weight you ever intend to lift. A good rule of thumb is to estimate the highest payload you typically would lift then add 5% to 10%.

It’s also a good idea to make sure everybody using that particular forklift knows its maximum load capacity, the weight of the object being lifted, and the effect a forklift attachment will have on the vehicle’s lifting performance.

Operators must be trained in the proper use of attachments because they alter the performance of the forklift.  Attachments affect the truck’s performance by changing its center of gravity, visibility, and capacity.  These are the federal OSHA regulations and descriptions of forklift attachment installation and use:

Common attachments:

• Slipsheet attachments which avoid the use of pallets.
• Sideshifters shift the forks right and left.
• Container handlers designed to lift shipping containers.
• Carton clamps equipped with a pressure valve to squeeze the load.
• Cotton or pulp bale clamps that grab and hold bales.
• Paper roll handlers.
• Barrel clamps.
• Rotators that grab and rotate the load.
• Extending or telescoping forks such as in reach and turret trucks.
• Personnel platforms specially designed for lifting personnel.

Potential Hazards:

• Overloading. The weight of the attachment reduces the lifting capacity of the truck.
• Tipover and falling loads. The attachment increases the load center by moving the load further away from the balance or fulcrum point.

Requirements:

• Train operators in the fork and attachment adaptation, operation, and use limitations. 29 CFR 1910.178(l)(3)(i)(G)
• Retrain an operator if a new attachment is added to the forklift. Consult the operator’s manual for instructions on how to use the new equipment.
• Do not exceed the rated capacity of the forklift/attachment combination.
• Know the mechanical limitations of your forklift.
• Change capacity, operation, and maintenance instruction plates, tags, or decals when a forklift truck is equipped with an attachment.
• Treat an unloaded forklift with an attachment as partially loaded. [29 CFR 1910.178(o)(4)]
• Include attachments in a scheduled maintenance and inspection program. Tailor inspection steps to the attachment.

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