Periodic checks of forks and chains

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Periodic checks of forks and chains

As you may know, a periodic inspection of the forks and chains of your electric forklifts is mandatory by law.

This is provided for both new and used forklifts.

Article 71 of Legislative Decree 81/2008 provides that “ … the employer takes the necessary measures to ensure that the work equipment is properly maintained, in order to guarantee the permanence of safety requirements over time . ”

It, therefore, becomes a legal obligation for those who own a company in Italy to take all necessary measures to ensure that their employees use machines that can guarantee the safety of the operators themselves.

More specifically in Annex VI of Legislative Decree 81/2008 , in section 3, concerning the provisions concerning the use of work equipment used to lift loads, it is established that “… The ropes and chains must be subjected to quarterly checks , in the absence of specific indication from the manufacturer </ em >. ”

Therefore the employer has full responsibility for the management and maintenance of the work equipment and, among them, also the forklifts used.

This is one of the reasons why it is important to periodically check the forks and chains of your forklifts every three months.

But another crucial and not secondary aspect is given by the fact that, during the life of your forklifts, they undergo natural wear and even their components incur natural obsolescence.

In fact, with quarterly checks on the forks and chains, the forklift maintenance technician checks that these elements are always safe and cannot cause damage to things or people.

The technician who periodically carries out these checks must ascertain whether:

1. there is an excessive percentage of elongation of the chains (over 2-3%)
2. the links are cracked
3. the presence of rust on the chains

At the end of these checks, if the forklift is in order, the technician records the maintenance carried out on the vehicle.

In this way, the owner of the company is safeguarded in the event of checks carried out by the relevant bodies (Asl, etc …)

If, at the end of these checks, however, the technician identifies any problem, intervenes, and arranges the elements of the forklift that they need.

It also records both the intervention carried out and the fact that thanks to this intervention, the vehicle is once again up to standard. In fact, the employer has fulfilled its obligation to ensure its employees safe and overhauled vehicles according to the legislation.

It is important for all those who have responsibilities to agree with a company that deals with the maintenance of forklifts.

In this way, the same company takes care in all respects of these mandatory checks (also concerning the deadlines and the timing within which the checks must be carried out).

In this way, the company that owns its own forklifts protects itself both from a legal point of view and from a safety point of view, guaranteeing its employees safe and legal vehicles.