Most forklifts and lift trucks are available with a lot of common security features, such as seat belts on sit-down vehicles. Stand-up vehicles will usually have dead-man petals. Moreover, certain manufacturers are offering extra features such as speed controls that could reduce the overall speed based on load height and steering angle. For more information, there are many available articles about Loading Dock Safety and Lift Truck Safety.
Support and Service
Making certain you will maintain access to high levels of service and support is a very essential part of forklift selection. There seem to be a range of new players in the lift truck industry each and every year. Although they offer a nice price and a decent forklift design, if they do not offer the local or regional support and service infrastructure, you should be ready for significant aggravation when the forklift breaks. Each and every lift truck model goes down at some point and parts, service and general questions must be answered at some point.
You will generally want to have a nearby dealer or repair shop with a complete supply of the parts you need for your particular model. Be sure to visit the dealership or the repair shop and check their parts room in order to try to know how many parts they stock. Make sure to inquire that if they do not have the part you require, where would it come from? With a bit of luck, the answer will be from a regional or local distribution facility.
Try to get some additional ideas on the units currently utilized in your vicinity. This is doubly vital for specialty trucks such as turret trucks. If there are only a small amount of trucks being utilized in their service area that you must assume they may not be stocking many if any parts for them. As well, they may have very little overall experience in servicing that model as well.