Electric forklifts have been widely applied in modern logistics warehouses, manufacturing workshops and retail distribution centers for their low noise, zero local emission and easy operation features. As the core equipment for short-distance material handling, the safety performance of electric forklift operation directly concerns the personal safety of on-site staff, integrity of goods and steady operation of the whole site. Regular targeted drills for emergency stop operation, which focus on optimizing operators’ reaction time, are one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce forklift related safety risks.

Before launching formal drills, all participants need to get familiar with the position and triggering mode of the emergency stop button on the electric forklift in advance, to confirm the component is free of obstruction and can be pressed smoothly without extra effort. The first phase of drills is scenario simulation training. The on-site safety supervisor sets up multiple common unexpected scenarios that may occur in daily work, including obstacles rolling out from the blind area of the forklift view, pedestrians suddenly stepping into the driving lane, stacked goods falling off from the adjacent storage rack, etc. Operators are required to respond to the unexpected scene immediately and trigger the emergency stop function within reasonable reaction time. The drills start under low driving speed first, then gradually increase the speed to the normal daily operation speed, to help operators get used to finishing stop operation stably under different moving states.

The second phase of drills is unannounced reaction training. The supervisor will not inform operators of the exact time that the emergency scenario will appear, to create a highly restored real accident scenario. This training mode helps operators form stable muscle memory for emergency stop operation, and avoid the negative effect of pre-prepared formal drills which cannot reflect operators’ real reaction level. After each round of drill, the supervisor will record each operator’s reaction time objectively, sort out common problems that cause slow response, such as incorrect sitting posture that keeps hands too far away from the operation panel, scattered attention during driving, etc. Targeted adjustment guidance can be provided to every operator accordingly. Regular weekly drills that last for no more than 20 minutes each time will not influence normal production and logistics schedule, and continuous implementation will effectively reduce most common collision and scraping accidents in electric forklift operation.