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Keeping Your Warehouse Safe: Forklifts

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Forklifts are very powerful tools with a number of uses. One person operating a forklift can lift and place many large heavy loads with much precision and very little effort, and can help prevent back injuries. However, did you know that forklifts are actually a significant cause of accidents in the United States? Warehouse owners should provide their workers with safety tips to ensure employee safety. Here are some safety tips for forklift operation.

  • Inspect the forklift beforehand. An inspection should occur every day by the operator of the forklift. No matter what safety protocol you follow, if the vehicle itself is not operating properly, the risks increase exponentially. You should know if the horn is working, if anything is leaking or posing a fire hazard, and if the tires are at proper pressure.
  • Wear your seat belt. You may think that because a forklift is so sturdy, you do not need a seat belt. This could not be further from the truth. If the vehicle tips over, then the person inside could be thrown out and crushed unless he or she is wearing a seat belt, which will keep him or her inside the vehicle and protected by the sturdy frame of the forklift.
  • Never load the forklift beyond its rated capacity. The best thing to do for your safety is to prevent the forklift from tipping over in the first place. The number one reason that a forklift might tip over with someone inside of it is that it has been front loaded with an excess of weight, which is highly unsafe. Additionally, it can be harder to firmly secure a load that is heavier than it should be, which can cause even further safety hazards.
  • Drive slowly and carefully. You may be very accustomed to driving a car, but you need to know that forklifts operate very differently than normal automobiles. For example, most forklifts steer from the rear of the vehicle, which causes the back of the forklift to turn widely. Driving, turning, and stopping should all happen slowly and with much care and attention. Turning or stopping suddenly can cause the vehicle to lose balance, especially when it is carrying a heavy load. Additionally, ramps and inclines should be driven on with even greater care and attention.

Driving a forklift can pose some concerns, but can also be extremely useful for working with large objects and loads. Just make sure you follow the right protocol for optimum safety of operation.

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What Our Customers Are Saying

"Over the past 12 years I have had the pleasure of working with Chris Summers and Mark Horwitz with Material Handling Exchange. Over this period of time I have had the pleasure of working with them on large and small projects whether I was selling (or) buying uprights, beams, wire decking, shelving, carts and pick-modules from Chris and Mark. They have always been helpful and friendly. They treat you more like a friend than just a customer and that goes for to entire staff at Material Handling Exchange. They will go out of their way to help you whether your needing racking, shelving or anything necessary to equip your facility. I can’t express just how much they have helped me over the years. Now that Material Handling Exchange has the capability of manufacturing racking they can beat anyone’s price and supply you with quality racking!!"

MMBurch

"Great response time, follow up and delivery. The product was in great shape and the communication never faltered."

Teresa Jones

"Mark Horwitz is a pleasure to deal with. The material was delivered timely and the quality was there. We will definitely be doing business again."

Brian Lowers

"Very satisfied with our experience purchasing from MHE. Orders were processed in a timely manner and we look forward to doing more business with them in the very near future."

Mark Crosby

"Great experience!"

Curtis Feucht

"Excellent Service"

Wayne Musser

"Good service, good price"

John B

"Great company to work with."

Sam Tucker

"Quick and exactly what I ordered!"

David Gruber

"Great service & fast response times!"

Kevin Murray

"Always a pleasure to do business with!!!"

Kent

"GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!
GREAT SELECTION!"

Mike Noss

"Always professional and easy to work with."

Steve Newburg

"Great company, Very helpful and knowledgeable"

James

"MHE has been very helpful under tight time restraints"

Doug Temposky

"GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A SERVICE TECHNICIAN WITH LOADS OF KNOWLEDGE"

Paula

"Good company to work with , very responsive to emails, good quality product"

Ben Gilb

"Easy to work with and easy to communicate with about quotes, questions or any issues"

HenryUSA

"Quick quoting and delivery process. Understands what we are looking for. Very competitive pricing."

Greg Salway

"This is the fourth order I have sent to MHE. Always recieved the racking in good order as promised."

Allen

"MHE is a top notch company. If you are in the market for new or used racking I highly recommend this company!"

Charlie Williamson

"Aaron R was very helpful and responsive to our needs! Quoted quickly and helped solve the problem we were having."

Brandon Sutor

"Made multiple purchases, quality products and service for a great price. We will buy from in the future. Thanks again from Ashland Conveyor"

Bobby Ray
Ashland Conveyor

"I have worked with MHE for a year or so. They have helped me with old racking repair parts as well as new racks for our shop floor and warehouse. There team has been very helpful."

Kevin Glieden

"All items were as advertised and in far better condition that expected for be used. Everything arrived quickly and well packaged. Very nice folks to work with."

Spencer Johnson

"MHE has always responded quickly to our requests for quotes and availability of product. The customer service/sales staff are quick and eager to assist our needs and prices are competitive."

Alex Darling

"Chris Summers is always very helpful and gets our quotes to us in a timely manner. If we have a question he’s quick to answer and goes out of his way to provide us excellent customer service."

Jennifer Liebert
Gotta Go Surplus

"Have used MHE several times and it is a good experience each time. I have worked with Chris S. and he has been very helpful as well. They do what they say…what more can you ask for."

Paul Doggett

"MHE was easy to work with and quickly provided the racking we required at a reasonable price. We would definitely recommend them to anyone who is looking to procure warehouse materials."

Mike

"Material Handling Exchange employees were knowledgeable, helpful, and involved throughout the design and installation. Very easy to work with. The installation crew were professional and easy to work with."

Mike

"We have been outfitting a new 14,000 sqft warehouse with new racking. We worked with MHE a couple years ago and had great experience with getting everything specced out and rated for our needs. We had to get racks custom made for the specific work we do. Their prices were very competitive. We went back and ordered another quantity from them last year. We will likely be ordering more from them in the future. The only issue we had was the delivery. The trucking company they used didn’t brace everything and some of the racking fell off the pallets in the truck. It took us several hours to partially hand-unload a full 53 foot trailer. That was the trucking company though. MHE was great."

Erich

"Working with Bradly Cross and Ms Herbert in shipping was great. I had some problems with my shipper and they were very responsive to my needs for photos to help find the mis-shipped material."

Rob Smith
Action Industrial Service

"From layout and design to pricing and delivery M.H.E is the best material handling company I have used. The professionalism from beginning to end has ensured they will be my supplier in the future and i recommend that they become your’s as well."

Russ

"I always have a great response when requesting quotes from MHE. When ordering, they always keep me in the loop, letting me know within hours when my product will be delivered. Courteous with all phone calls and emails. I will keep them in my sights when I need any type of racking."

Judy Hill

"I would recommend Material Handling exchange to anyone and everyone that deals with pallet racking cantilever and small store shelving. I’ve been dealing with Material Handling for a few years now an they have never let me down even on messed up orders the product is Rush delivered immediately. Hats off to Brad Cross and his crew there."

Joey

"Gleaners Food Bank recently contracted with MHE to install racking in our cooler rooms and Material Handling Exchange was great to work with. They were very responsive to our needs and gave us very reasonable pricing. The install team that came to our facility was outstanding; they worked safely and cleaned the work areas meticulously once the work was completed.

We will absolutely use Material Handling Exchange for future projects in our DC."

Neil M. Underhill

"I had MHE design and build cantilever rack for our cabinet manufacturing company. the sales person I worked with was knowledgable of how our business works and knew exactly what we needed. This order was a custom build due to the limited ceiling height we have to work with in out plant. when we received our cantilever order we built and loaded it with lumber. everthing works great."

John

"Hands down the best company for racking I have worked with in my 15+ years. The racking is clean,safe,strong and easy to put up fast. I would also say that the sales team is right there if anything comes up with the job. All my questions where answered quick and they made sure to go over every detail to ensure I got the correct racking for my application. My company is located in North Carolina and there was no problems with shipping and was fast to get to us."

Todd Sigler

"Starting at the beginning of this year I have been dealing with Mr. Horwitz. He has been very helpful and accomodating to our needs here at Newegg. He is very knowledgeable and prompt when offering quotations. Once orders are in the process the rest of his team communicates at a very professional level. We’ve ordered from them several times already this year and will continue to do so in the future."

Todd Herman

"We’ve done business a handful of times with MHE. It’s always a problem-free experience. Whether we’re picking up a small order from their warehouse directly or having them ship an order to our shop, the order is always accurate. Prompt shipments. Good quality used stock. New stock is fairly priced. Their sales staff is always personable and checks over orders to make sure you didn’t overlook anything. We have no reason to buy from anyone else."

Michael Bartoli

"Excellent products."

Benavidez L.

Past Customers

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